The Will of Three
by substitutingrealitywithmyown
Summary: Minato's Shiki Fujin was meant to slowly drain the Kyubi's chakra into Naruto, and it seemed to be working well. In fact, it worked a little too well. Starts after Battle of Bridge and branches out from there. Rated M for safety. Credit to Lanelle for new title.
1. Arc I: Chap I

**Disclaimer: The _Naruto _universe isn't mine, it belongs to Kishimoto. I'm just trying to have some fun in the _Naruto_** **sandbox. **

"Urgh," Naruto groaned as he rolled over on his futon. The last twenty-four hours had been a blur to the blonde; dealing with Gatou's samurai wannabe thugs, racing to Tazuna's bridge to catch up with the rest of his team, leapt into an enemies' jutsu to save Sasuke, see Sasuke seemingly killed, using the Kyubi's chakra to break free and finding out that his opponent was Haku, seeing Haku killed by Kakashi-sensei, then Gatou showing up with his thugs. Zabuza then sacrificing himself to decimate Gatou's thugs and kill Gatou himself, and finally Sakura calling out that Sasuke was alive.

However, instead of getting a restful sleep, Naruto's rest was bombarded by image that he had no memory of. He saw dozens of unfamiliar ninja in a barren, rocky wasteland; somehow he knew that the hitai-ate's on the ninja's foreheads were that of Iwa. Whispers of 'the _**Kiiroi Senkō**_' filtered through his ears. The scene changed to a familiar training ground where he seemed to be sparring against a boy his own age but with gravity defying silver hair with half his face hidden by a mask. Naruto thought that this kid looked like a chibi Kakashi.

'_Is this the future?_' he thought.

The dream changed once more to a sight that Naruto instantly recognized. He 'stood' overlooking the village, from the top of the Yondaime's head, and saw the Kyubi wreaking havoc on the village. The massive demon fox looked up and spotted Naruto. In a voice unlike his own, Naruto said, "Spotted me already."

Naruto watched as the Kyubi created a massive ball of chakra and swallowed it. Pulling a kunai from his pouch, Naruto held it out in front of him. The _**Bijūdama**_ was suddenly sucked into a void that had appeared in front of Naruto.

'How?' Naruto thought.

The scene shifted once more and Naruto found himself in a very ornate temple wearing very fancy robes. Naruto looked up and felt his jaw drop. An extraordinarily beautiful redheaded woman with light violet eyes was walking down the aisle wearing a white kimono that offset her hair and tanned skin wonderfully.

"Do you Namikaze Minato take this woman, Uzumaki Kushina, to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Naruto blinked. '_Who? And why does she have the same last name as me?'_

The scene faded out once more, this time Naruto was in a dark room thought it was slightly illuminated by candles. From what Naruto could see, someone was sitting astride him. Flashes of red and cream could be made out as well as pants and moans could be heard.

"Oh Mina-kun, yes, that's it," a breathless female voice was heard above him.

"Kushina-chan, you're so beautiful," Naruto gasped as he felt a pressure build up in his stomach. "I could barely think when I saw…"

"Enough talking and do me!" Kushina growled. Naruto felt something tighten around him, something warm and wet. The pressure in his stomach flared.

"Oh Kushina, I'm coming!" Naruto cried as he bucked his hips.

"Yes Mina-kun, do it inside me!" Kushina wailed. Naruto gasped as he felt the pressure give way, and white-hot pleasure course through him.

Naruto opened his eyes trying to rid himself of the final images but the breathy moans and cries of this Kushina wouldn't go away. Blood gushed from his nose and splattered against the door while Naruto fell back into the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness. A moment later, the door opened to revel a pink haired girl wearing a red dress. She spotted Naruto lying on the futon, blood dripping from his nose and a lecherous grin on his face.

"Pervert," Sakura growled before slamming the door behind her.

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The Konoha group decided to leave for home the next day. Their departure was quite heart felt, as Inari had become quite attached to Naruto after the blonde boy had saved him and his mother from Gatou's thugs.

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke were quite surprised as the fact that when Tazuna announced the name of the completed bridge that Naruto hadn't started jumping and down and acting like a child. Instead, Naruto seemed to shrink in on himself, blushing furiously and looking down at the ground.

"Come on you three," Kakashi said. Team 7 gave the villagers one more wave before leaping into the trees.

As Team 7 raced through the forest, Naruto attempted to sort out his head. He suddenly had information, whether it was jutsus, people or geographical that he had no memory of knowing.

"Naruto hurry up!" Kakashi called out. Naruto looked up to see that his teammates had started to get away from him.

"Yeah Naruto-baka, hurry your ass up," Sakura shouted.

"Dobe," Sasuke grunted.

Naruto didn't answer them; he just channeled some chakra into his legs and sped off after his teammates, though he used that term loosely. Naruto felt a great wave of disappointment well up inside him when he thought of Kakashi, like he had had such high hopes for Kakashi but the silver haired boy had failed to live up to them.

'_Boy?'_ Naruto thought. '_Kakashi-sensei is older than me, he's like old enough to be my father!_'

However the disappointed feeling didn't dissipate as Naruto followed Team 7. Looking back at his time on Team 7, he found faults with each of his comrades. Kakashi was proving to a lack luster sensei, the only thing that they had been taught since becoming a team was tree walking. Kakashi spent the majority of his time reading smut or flat out ignoring his team. Suddenly an image of a straight laced, silver haired boy appeared in Naruto's minds eye, he remembered a time when Kakashi would follow the Shinobi Code of Law religiously and berate Obito for not doing so.

'_Who's Obito?_' Naruto thought.

Shaking his head, Naruto turned toward his female teammate. A hot rush of anger filled his entire being at the sight of his pink haired teammate. Sakura was a pathetic excuse for a kunoichi; only caring about her looks rather than her training. She was a disgrace, though Naruto knew that Sakura had some potential hidden beneath her fan-girl attitude. Naruto's affections toward the young girl had seemingly vanished, sure she was still cute but he wanted someone who would be able to stand beside him, someone who would keep him in check and while Sakura had the personality, she didn't have the strength.

When Naruto turned to his final teammate, he felt another rush of anger toward the Uchiha but it was tempered by a feeling of pity. This young man was a spoiled arrogant bastard who believed that everything was to be handed to him, however Sasuke was also a scared young man who never received the proper attention in the aftermath of the Uchiha massacre. The village wanted to make sure that the Last Uchiha didn't leave, so they showered him with praise and gifts when they should have helped Sasuke get through his grief and treat him like every other ninja. This would have curtailed Sasuke's arrogance, there was no denying that Sasuke was a talented ninja but the boy needed to be shown that he was a small fish in a large ocean. Their fights against Zabuza and Haku had started this trend.

Naruto also realized that he somehow knew dozens of jutsus but he couldn't remember how he learned them. A tall white-haired man featured prominently in these visions and Naruto somehow knew that this man's name was Jiraiya, though the name Ero-Sennin also made sense to Naruto. He couldn't wait to get back to Konoha and attempt to use these jutsus to see if these dreams were just that dreams or that they were something else, that swirling ball of chakra jutsu (the _**Rasengan**_, he remembered?) looked awesome.

Team 7 reached the gates of Konoha in half the time it took to reach Nami, because Tazuna wasn't holding them back.

"All right you three, we need to report to the Hokage," Kakashi said. "Since our mission was upgraded from C-rank to A-rank, he doesn't want to wait." The three genin nodded.

"Ah Team 7, welcome home," Hiruzen said as Team 7 entered the Hokage's office. "It seems that you had quite the adventure on only a C-rank mission." The Hokage pinned Kakashi with a hard look that the jonin cringed under.

"Hokage-sama, it wasn't truly Kakashi-sensei's fault," Naruto said, stepping forward (though he had no idea why he was doing so). The Hokage and Team 7 blinked. Naruto being respectful was something that they had never seen.

"Explain Genin Uzumaki," Hiruzen ordered.

Naruto spent the next half hour relying the mission report that he had somehow come up with regarding their trip to Nami, saying everything aside from his use of the Kyubi's chakra and his weird visions/dreams.

"I see, Kakashi, you and Naruto-kun will remain here," Hiruzen said. "Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun, you are dismissed."

The two genin looked like they wanted to argue but thought better of it and left.

"Now Naruto-kun, why do I think that you haven't said everything that happened on your mission?" Hiruzen asked. But Naruto wasn't paying attention to the Hokage; he was starring at the portrait of the Yondaime Hokage. "Naruto-kun!"

Naruto blinked and seemed to come back to the present. "Jiji, why am I having these dreams about the Yondaime and some red-haired woman name Kushina?" Naruto asked.

Hiruzen froze. "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, what did you say?"

"Ever since the bridge and I used 'its' chakra, I've been having these weird dreams about places, things and people I've never met but mostly they center around the Yondaime and a red-haired woman named Uzumaki Kushina. She has the same name as me, are we related?" he asked frantically.

"Naruto-kun, please calm down," Hiruzen said. "You said that these dreams started after you used the Kyubi's chakra." Naruto nodded. "I think that you should refrain from using any chakra until I have my student, Jiraiya, look your seal."

"Jiraiya-sensei!" Naruto cried. Hiruzen blinked.

"I didn't think that you've met Jiraiya-kun," Hiruzen said.

"I don't think I have but some of my dreams have a tall white-haired man teaching the Yondaime as well as being called Ero-Sennin by that Kushina woman because he peeped on her or something."

"I see."

"Jiji, there's one other thing," Naruto said. "There's this one dream that stands out."

"Why is that?"

"It's all about the night of the Kyubi attack," Naruto said. "But how can I dream about it when I was born that night, and that Kushina lady had a baby with her and she called it Naruto. That's my name. Jiji, who are my parents?"

Hiruzen sighed. "Leave us," he ordered to the ANBU hidden in the room. Naruto felt three chakra signatures vanish from the room. "Naruto, I know that I have told you that your parents were very important ninja and they made enemies while they were alive," Naruto nodded, "Your father left instructions that you receive your inheritance when you became a Chunin or turned 16 but in light of this information concerning your dreams I believe you deserve to know the truth. Naruto-kun, you are right, the woman in your dreams is related to you. Uzumaki Kushina was your mother, and Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, was your father."

Naruto felt something wash over him. For all his life, he had been told that he didn't have parents or that they had abandoned him because a demon like him didn't deserve parents. To finally know the identities of his parents was like a balm to his cracked psyche.

"Thank you Hokage-sama," Naruto said thickly, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

"Of course Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said. "However I must remind you that this information is an SS-rank secret and if certain people learned of your parentage, they would use that information to make your life very difficult."

"More so than it already is," Naruto muttered.

"Indeed," Hiruzen said.

"Jiji, do you have any idea why I've been having these dreams, memories or whatever?"

"I don't know for sure," Hiruzen said. "The seal holding the Kyubi within you, the _**Shiki Fūjin**_, there is very little that we know about it. Now I believe I have something for you." Hiruzen rose from his chair and walked over to his portrait and channeled some chakra. The portrait swung open, Hiruzen took out two scrolls. "Naruto-kun, after that night, I managed to recover these from your parents' home. They contain the notes of their jutsus, Minato put a pair of blood seals on them so that only one with both Namikaze and Uzumaki blood could open them."

"So just me?" Naruto asked.

"Correct, now Naruto-kun, I want you to go home and rest," Hiruzen said. "Also don't use any chakra for the rest of the day, I will contact Jiraiya and have him return to the village so that he can check over your seal."

Naruto nodded, cradling his parents' scrolls like a newborn child. Hiruzen and Kakashi watched as Naruto walked out of the office. Once the door closed Kakashi turned to his Hokage.

"Are you sure that was wise Hokage-sama? Don't get me wrong, Naruto is a good kid but to give him sensei and Kushina-sama's scrolls," Kakashi said.

"They are rightfully his Kakashi-kun," Hiruzen said. "Naruto-kun has been denied any happiness or semblance of family for his entire life. I can't in good conscious keep denying him his inheritance any longer than I already have."

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Naruto made it back to his apartment in a daze. His parents' identities had finally been revealed to him, he was the son of the Yondaime Hokage, his hero, and the man who sealed the Kyubi in him. Naruto stumbled over to his bed, still clothed, and collapsed onto the old mattress and fell into Morpheus' realm. Naruto's dreams were once again of the night of the Kyubi attack though it was from his mother's perspective, he felt the agonizing pain as the Kyubi was torn from her ('_wait, torn from her. She was a Jinchuriki too?'_ Naruto thought), he felt the sorrow fill her entire being as she held his younger self as Minato went to confront the Kyubi.

The scene shifted to another point of view. Naruto saw chain ensnare the Kyubi before him. An altar appeared before 'Naruto' and he placed 'himself' (_man, this is really confusing_) on the altar. (Naruto's eyes widened in realization, _this must be when tou-san sealed the fox in me_.) Pain filled his entire being as the Kyubi broke free of several of Kushina's chains and tried to interrupt the sealing. Looking down, Naruto saw a massive claw protruding from his chest as well as Kushina's as she had leapt in front of his younger self as well. Naruto's closed eyes filled with tears as he saw how much his parents had truly loved him as they passed on their final messages. Something that caught Naruto's interest was when 'he' told Kushina that he would place some of their remaining chakra into the seal as a safe guard as well as so that they both would have an opportunity to speak with Naruto when he was older.

Naruto slowly removed himself from Morpheus' realm and sat up in bed. His cheeks were streaked with tears as flashes of his visions/dreams whatever filtered through his head. His parents did love him; they loved him enough to sacrifice their own lives to protect him. Naruto frowned as a slight twinge of anger coursed through him at the thought of his father; did he really have to seal the furball in him? '_A Hokage must always put his village before anything else,_' a deep, yet familiar and comforting voice echoed in Naruto's head. Somehow Naruto knew that this was his father's voice and realized that it was the first time he could honestly say he remembered his father's voice.

Rolling out of bed, Naruto noticed that it was still dark, though the night sky seemed to be changing from black to deep blue. There was a clatter on the floor when Naruto got off the bed. Turning around, he saw that his parents' scrolls had fallen off the bed when he got up. Reaching down, Naruto picked up the scrolls and sat back down on his bed. With a trembling hand, Naruto bit his thumb and swiped some of the blood onto his father's scroll. It glowed blue for a moment before the seal broke. Gently Naruto opened the scroll and frowned.

It was blank. Crushing despair welled up inside Naruto as he gripped the scroll tightly. He was about to fling it aside when some of the blood from his thumb brushed against the open scroll, lines of kanji appeared in a circle and in a puff of smoke a second scroll appeared.

"I don't have time to read both," Naruto said. "I wish there was a way…BAKA!" he barked, slapping his hand to his forehead. "_**Kage Bunshin!**_" he muttered. A clone burst into existence at his side. "Take tou-san's scrolls and read them. We have only a couple hours until we're supposed to meet teme, Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei and I want to know about my parents before then."

"Hai!" the clone saluted and picked up Minato's scroll.

Naruto arrived at Training Ground 7 just before the team's scheduled meeting time of 7am. He knew that Kakashi would arrive at least two hours late but Naruto couldn't fall back asleep so he decided to just make his way to the Training Ground. Neither Sakura nor Sasuke were there when Naruto reached the Training Ground. He sat at the base of the same post that he had been tied too when they first became a team. Opening his mother's scroll, Naruto began to read Kushina's journal that she had written while pregnant with Naruto.

"Naruto, Naruto, NARUTO!" Sakura's voice slammed into Naruto's ears.

"AH!" Naruto jumped, landing on top of the post with a kunai drawn and raised. Blinking, he realized that Sakura and Sasuke were looking at him like he was nuts. "What the hell Sakura? Why'd you yell in my ear?"

"You wouldn't answer me baka," Sakura snapped. "I've been calling your name for like a minute now, and you didn't answer. What are you reading?"

"Nothing, just some jutsu scrolls," Naruto answered quickly. He gathered up the journal and sealed it back in Kushina's scroll.

"You were reading?" Sasuke scoffed. "I didn't know that a dobe like you could read."

Naruto growled deeply and tightly gripped his kunai, wanting to slash the blade through Sasuke's chest. '_A ninja must always remain in control of their emotions,_' Naruto heard his father's voice whisper in his head. '_Don't get mad, get even_,' a second voice brought Naruto's head up. A grin crossed Naruto's mouth as he recognized his mother's voice, and how similar they seemed if she would say something like that. Stowing the kunai, Naruto stood up and stretched, groaning in relief as several bones, tendons and ligaments popped. Sakura turned away in disgust.

"Why are we even here if we know that Kakashi-sensei isn't going to be here for another two or so hours?" Naruto asked.

"We don't know that baka," Sakura snapped. "We could show up late and Kakashi-sensei could be waiting for us."

'_Who would have thought that Kakashi would have taken up Obito's excuses,_' Naruto thought. "Come on Sakura, Kakashi-sensei has never been on time for any of our meetings, aside from when we first left for the Wave," Naruto said. "Why don't we do some training while we wait?"

"You're going to need all the training you can get dobe," Sasuke sneered. "But I could use a warm up, let's see if you can even land a blow."

Naruto breathed in deeply through his nose, trying to calm himself down as well as drown out Sakura's shouting out encouragement for Sasuke. Naruto saw Sasuke take the opening stance of his family's Interceptor Style. A hazy image floated in front of Sasuke, a boy Sasuke's age wearing a blue jumpsuit trimmed with orange and goggles with orange lenses and ear protectors. Sasuke noticed Naruto starring off into space and surged forward, fist raised to nail Naruto across the face. However, as Sasuke's fist rocketed toward Naruto's face, the blonde hair boy's eyes snapped back to attention and his right hand came up and slapped Sasuke's fist aside. Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise as he struggled to keep his balance, he hadn't expected Naruto to block his opening salvo.

Naruto slid behind Sasuke and aimed a strike at Sasuke's back. Sasuke used his forward momentum to plant his hands on the ground and then whipped his legs around in a spin kick. Naruto ducked under Sasuke's kick and used a sweep kick to knock Sasuke's arms out from under him. Sasuke rolled forward, landing on his feet and spinning around, eyes wide.

"Looks like the first point goes to me eh Sasuke," Naruto said as he settled into a stance that he had never used but it felt as natural as breathing.

"What stance is that?" Sasuke asked.

"Not sure," Naruto shrugged. "But it feels right if you can understand that. I'm sure that you practiced your family's katas enough that it became effortless."

Sasuke nodded, he could easily relate to what Naruto was saying. He had always believed that in order to be successful as a ninja, you couldn't worry about remembering your katas or hand seals. So to combat this, Sasuke practiced endlessly on memorizing his family's taijutsu style's katas until he could perform them without even thinking.

Naruto darted forward; Sasuke activated his Sharingan on reflex as he ducked under a punch from Naruto. The Uchiha heir launched his own punch at Naruto's midsection. He connected but it wasn't the solid blow that Sasuke was hoping for. Naruto saw that he wasn't going to be able to dodge Sasuke's strike fully, so he angled his body so that instead of Sasuke's fist knocking him directly in the sternum, most likely a staggering blow, Sasuke's blow only clipped Naruto's side. It stung but wasn't much different than a bee sting. Naruto stepped inside Sasuke's outstretched guard and landed several quick blows. None looked very strong but Sasuke leapt backward clutching his left arm and side, a frown marring his normally stoic face.

"How are you doing this?" Sasuke demanded.

"I don't know," Naruto said. "I'm just doing what comes naturally."

"What's going on here?" a stern, yet somewhat amused voice asked from the edge of the sparring circle.

"So you decided to show up Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto quipped. "And just when it was getting good."

"Kakashi-sensei! You're late!" Sakura screamed, pointing a finger at the silver haired man, who scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed fashion.

"Sorry, I had to stop and help an old lady take her groceries home and then a black cat crossed my path so I had to run twice around the village, you know bad luck and all that," Kakashi said. Sasuke and Sakura groaned at the terrible excuse from Kakashi while Naruto chuckled warmly.

'_Kakashi with Obito's personality, that's going to take some getting used too,_' Naruto thought. He shook his head, tossing aside his thoughts that were melding with his father's. '_Tou-san said that he would put some of his and kaa-san's chakra in the seal for some reason, I wonder if when I used the Kyubi's chakra in Nami, the seal activated and something happened cause the seal to absorb their chakra into me. It would sort of explain why I was dreaming about my parents from their points of view, and how I have any idea what I'm talking about,_' Naruto thought.

"So Kakashi-sensei, what are we going to do today?" Sakura asked. "Not more D-rank missions I hope?"

"No," Kakashi said. "Hokage-sama has decided to give our team a week off from missions since our last one was upgraded from a C-rank to an A-rank. So today we will be expanding on what you were taught in Nami."

"Tree climbing?" Naruto asked.

"Correct."

"But we already know how to climb trees with our chakra," Sakura whined.

"That might be true but you haven't mastered it," Kakashi said. "You have only mastered this exercise when you can stay attached to a vertical surface for three hours straight or are able to fight on a vertical surface without having to think about channeling chakra. So you three know the drill, get to it."

Sakura and Naruto groaned while Sasuke sneered but the trio of genin made their way over to the group of trees that lined the sparring circle. Slowly, Naruto made his way up his tree focusing on completing the exercise correctly rather than getting it done first. He knew that his amount of chakra dwarfed Sasuke's; even Kakashi's chakra level was barely a third of Naruto's chakra level. Naruto was confident that he would outlast the other members of his team, so he solely focused on sticking to the tree upside down for as long as possible as well as walking on a high branch. He figured that having the blood rush to your head was a good deterrent to concentrating, and made the exercise harder.

Kakashi watched from his perch in a nearby tree, his cute little genin might think that he wasn't paying attention to them and only reading his _Icha Icha_, but Kakashi was actually watching the team. When he arrived, only twenty minutes late a new record, Kakashi was stunned to see that Naruto and Sasuke sparring. Well maybe not that surprised at the fact that they were fighting, but that Naruto was winning was the surprise. As well as taijutsu stance that the blonde had been using, it looked like a cross between Minato-sensei's style and Kushina-sensei's style. But that was impossible, Naruto had only known about his parents for one night, hadn't he?

"Kakashi-sensei, I can't go on," Sakura whined as she leapt down from her tree.

"All right Sakura, take a ten minute break but then you're going to do it again," Kakashi ordered much to the horror of the pink-haired kunoichi.

"But, but, but…"

"No buts Sakura," Kakashi said sharply. "You have the smallest chakra reserves of any of the recent graduates, and the only way to increase those reserves is too exhaust them each day and push past your limits. The main reason you have such perfect chakra control is because you have so little chakra."

Sakura began tearing up. Even her sensei thought she was weak.

"You're not weak Sakura," Kakashi interrupted her thought process. "You just don't have the shinobi lineage that Naruto and Sasuke does. So you will have to work harder than them to gain more chakra. Having such exceptional chakra control is a boon for such a young shinobi; I think you'll be quite suited to genjutsu or medical ninjutsu, both of which require excellent chakra control. Who knows perhaps you could become the next Tsunade of the Sannin."

"You really think so sensei?" Sakura gasped. She had read all about the legendary Senju Tsunade of the Sannin, granddaughter of the Shodaime Hokage, grandniece of the Nidaime Hokage, during the Academy.

"But you are going to have to work extremely hard Sakura," Kakashi said.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, is there something else I can do?" Naruto asked. Kakashi looked up and nearly fell out of his tree. Naruto was doing cartwheels along the bottom of a high up branch.

"Naruto, how the hell are you doing that?" Sakura cried.

"Well, I know that I've got a whole bunch of chakra," Naruto explained. "And I knew that I would get too bored just hanging around, get it," the others groaned at the crappy pun, "Everyone's a critic, but I was trying to come up with ways to make this exercise harder, and then I figured if I had to keep changing where I was channeling my chakra it would force me to focus on controlling it and do it quickly."

Kakashi looked at his blonde student. '_That's pretty clever,_' the silver haired jonin thought. _'By switching back and forth from channeling chakra to the soles of his feet and hands, he is splitting his concentration between two opposite places, which increases the difficulties of this exercise quite a bit. Bravo Naruto._'

"Well then Naruto, why don't follow me," Kakashi said. "I think I have something that will keep you interested." Naruto released his hold on the branch and quickly fell to the ground, falling into a crouch as he landed to absorb the impact. Naruto jogged over to follow Kakashi, leaving Sakura looking confused and Sasuke fuming.

"So what now Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked. "Are you going to teach me a badass jutsu or something?"

"Not quite," Kakashi chuckled. Despite the newfound maturity that Naruto seemed to possess, he was still Naruto. "This next exercise is still a chakra controlling one, it is the next step after tree walking."

"Water walking right?" Naruto asked. Kakashi looked at his student.

"How did you know that?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Naruto said with a far away look. Inwardly, Naruto was cursing himself out. He didn't want anyone to know how he knew things that he had no business knowing, Naruto wanted an edge over his enemies. "I think I saw some jonin teaching his team a couple years ago, and I remembered you were walking on water during your fight against Zabuza."

Kakashi nodded, his curiosity sated but not satisfied. Naruto was displaying a maturity and perceptiveness that he hadn't shown in the Academy nor in the last few months as a member of Team 7.

"Yes my cute genin," Kakashi chuckled. "Water walking is much harder than tree walking, though the principles are pretty much the same. Water walking forces you to channel a constant amount of chakra to force a hardening of the water under your feet in order to stand on it, instead of channeling a fixed amount of chakra to 'stick' to the tree. Think you are up to it?"

"Of course Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried. "Believe it! I'll have this mastered in no time."

"Well then, I'll leave you to it," Kakashi grinned.

"Yosh!" Naruto saluted. Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke as Naruto turned to face his new enemy, the lake that bordered Training Ground 7.

"Kakashi-sensei, where's Naruto?" Sakura asked when Kakashi returned to the clearing.

"He's over at the lake working on the next exercise," Kakashi said. "Once you two have mastered this one, you'll join him."

"How did Naruto manage to master this?" Sasuke growled. He didn't like the fact that the dobe was catching up to him, he was the Rookie of the Year, the strongest of their class and yet Naruto was working on an exercise that he wasn't. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke glared up at the tree and returned to the exercise.

A week had passed since Team 7 had returned from Kuni no Nami and Naruto had been told of his parents. Sakura and Sasuke had progressed far enough in the tree walking exercise for Kakashi to deem them ready to move on to water walking. Naruto had nearly mastered water walking, after the first day, he had created several clones who would try and create ripples, working their way up to waves for Naruto to work on keeping his chakra flow correct. Kakashi had once again been stunned to see the ingenuity that Naruto had put forth into his training. While the blonde haired boy was still excitable and hyperactive, when the situation called for it, Naruto could become quite, perspective and attentive to a minute detail. While Team 7 was training in Training Ground 7, a tall white-haired man wearing a red and green jacket entered the Hokage's office.

"What do you want sensei?" Jiraiya asked forcefully. "You wouldn't have called me back if it wasn't important."

"It is time that you take up your responsibilities with your godson," Hiruzen said. "For too long have you just ignored Naruto, and for what, for some so-called research." Hiruzen held up a hand to forestall Jiraiya's outrage. "I know that you are our spymaster, and your information network requires constant tending too but you still could have spent some time with Naruto when you were in the village, even an hour would have made a world of difference to the boy."

"You know why I left sensei?" Jiraiya cried. "Minato was like a son to me and Naruto looks just like him. Do you have any idea how much pain it caused me to turn my back on the gaki? I know that Minato and Kushina are waiting for me to join them, and they'll take their pound of flesh out and I'll just sit back and let them because I deserve it. It nearly killed me to look at Naruto and see Minato's eyes looking up at me. I just couldn't stand it."

"Well it is time you put the past behind you Jiraiya-kun," Hiruzen said kindly. "I'm sure you read my report about Naruto's mission to Nami." Jiraiya nodded.

"You said that he accessed the Kyubi's chakra and it was for the first time," Jiraiya said. Hiruzen nodded.

"There's something else," the elderly Hokage said. "It seems that Naruto has been dreaming about his parents, from their points of view. I had to end up telling him about his parents."

"So you think that something happened to the seal then?" Jiraiya asked.

"None of us know," Hiruzen said. "There is so little known about the _**Shiki Fūjin**_, so I want to make sure that Minato's seal is still holding strong."

"I'll see what I can do," Jiraiya said. "But Minato was better with _**fuinjutsu**_, he and Kushina could do thinks with it that I could never dream of."

"Uzumaki-san," a gruff voice sounded from behind Team 7. Naruto spun around, a kunai appearing in his hand.

"Yes ANBU-san?" Naruto asked, stowing his kunai back in its holster.

"Hokage-sama has requested your presence in his office immediately," the masked ninja said.

"I see," Naruto said. "I'll be along in a moment. Thank you ANBU-san." The ANBU nodded before vanishing in a swirl of leaves. "I better go see what the old man wants."

"Naruto!" Sakura gasped. "You shouldn't call Hokage-sama that!"

"Don't worry Sakura," Naruto said. "Jiji knows that I call him it, he's like my grandfather. I don't know how long this meeting will take, so I'll probably see you guys tomorrow. Same time tomorrow morning sensei?"

Kakashi nodded and Naruto vanished in a swirl of leaves of his own. He reappeared on top of the Hokage Tower, somewhat stunned. He had just performed a jutsu that he had never used before. '_How did I do that?_' Naruto thought. '_Oh well, I'm sure that jiji will know what to do._'

"What do you want jiji?" Naruto asked as he climbed through the window to the Hokage's office.

"Ah Naruto-kun, thank you for coming on such short notice," Hiruzen said. "I have someone I'd like you to meet." A white haired man stepped out of the shadows.

"Jiraiya-sensei!" Naruto cried, throwing himself at the older man.

"What in Kami's name are you talking about gaki? I've never taught you anything, why you calling me sensei?" Jiraiya asked.

"I'm not sure but it just felt right," Naruto said. "So you taught my tou-san?"

"Hai, that's right," Jiraiya answered.

"And you were the one who gave me my name right?"

"How do you know about that?" Jiraiya asked sharply, his sharp eyes narrowing at the blonde boy.

"I just do, I had this dream or memory about it," Naruto said. "My tou-san said it came from your first book, _Legend of the Gusty Ninja_, right?"

"That's right. Look gaki, sensei called you here for me to look over your seal, so let's see it," Jiraiya ordered. Naruto frowned but unzipped his jacket and pulled up his shirt before channeling some chakra. The seal holding back the Kyubi slowly appeared in black upon Naruto's stomach. Jiraiya knelt down in front of Naruto and peered intensely at the seal on Naruto's stomach. After a moment, Jiraiya stood back up and rubbed his chin.

"As far as I can tell, the seal looks perfect," he said. "Like the day it was set. The beauty of this seal was that it is meant to slowly filter the Kyubi's chakra into your own chakra reserves."

"You mean I'll gain the Kyubi's chakra?" Naruto gasped.

"Not for a many long years gaki," Jiraiya said. "The Kyubi is a being of hate, malice and near infinite chakra. It would take several centuries for you to assimilate its chakra."

"What about my parents' chakra?" Naruto asked.

"What are you talking about Naruto-kun?"

"Well, I had this dream a week ago," Naruto began. He went on to tell Hiruzen and Jiraiya about his dream about the night of the sealing as well as Minato telling Kushina that he was going to place some of their chakra in the seal so that they would be able to speak with Naruto at some point in the future.

Hiruzen looked at his student. "Is such a thing possible?" he asked.

"I'm not sure what can't be achieved with _**fuinjutsu**_ aside from raising the dead," Jiraiya said. "However it would certainly explain why the gaki has been having these dreams about Minato and Kushina from their points of view."

"So when I called upon the Kyubi's chakra, my parents remaining chakra got caught up and dragged into my chakra reserves and now I have their memories or something?" Naruto asked. Hiruzen blinked at the blonde.

"That very well may be the case Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said after a moment. "Kakashi tells me that you have taken to both the tree walking and water walking exercises like a fish in water, even coming up with new ways to test yourself."

Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Well, for some reason I already knew that I could do both exercises but I didn't really want to show off so I tried to amuse myself and test my limits," he said. "I know I've got more chakra than I know what to do with, so I thought that if I tried to spilt it in different directions, I could work on both control as well as not overloading a single point and it worked."

"That's brilliant!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "And even those with small reserves could still use it as it would push their own limits. Sounds like something Minato would come up with when training, I wonder if you really did absorb your parents' memories and maybe even their personalities."

"I think that is enough headaches for today," Hiruzen said. "Naruto-kun, it's getting late, why don't you head home? I'll inform Kakashi to excuse you for the rest of the day from your training."

"Hai Hokage-sama," Naruto said, snapping to attention before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Hiruzen turned to his student.

"He's something else isn't he Jiraiya-kun?"

Jiraiya nodded. "He seems to be a mix of Minato and Kushina, and that was even before this crazy theory of him absorbing their memories and such," he said. "But if it's true, with their memories and the Kyubi's chakra supplementing his own there is no telling how strong Naruto will become."

**A/N: Hey all, I know that I said that I would be focusing on '_Vengeance_' and '_True Meaning_' but this little nugget has been bugging me for a couple weeks now, and I felt I might as well post it to see how the reception will be. I'm sure that I've seen someone using this type of story before, but hopefully mine is different. If the authors read this, and believe that I am stealing, let me know and I'll either change it around or take the story down. Also, I have said that I will be posting a sequel to '_Underneath the Underneath_', well I have decided that I won't be. Instead I'll be using this story as my other _Naruto_ story, looking back at '_UTU_' I've seen a lot of things I can improve on. This story won't be exactly like _'Underneath' _but I think people will like it all the same. For people looking for my other two major stories, updates are coming. I'm about 50% done with the next chap for '_Vengeance'_ and the outline for '_True Meaning_' is done and have started writing the chapter out. Anyway, please read and review this story, always enjoy reading constructive reviews.**

**Till next time,**

**S.R.W.M.O**


	2. Arc I: Chap II

**Disclaimer: The _Naruto_ universe isn't mine, I'm just borrowing bits and pieces of it in an attempt to make a cake though baking isn't my best attribute.**

It had been a week since Kakashi had given Team 7 the news that he had entered them in the Chunin Exams. He had given them the last two days before the exams off in order to prepare. Naruto had spent the time reviewing his parents memories of the exams; he was comforted by the fact that both Minato and Kushina hadn't passed their first Chunin Exam, actually for Kushina it took three tries, Minato passed on his second attempt. But they always reached the third stage; so Naruto promised himself that he would give him the chance to be promoted by making it to the third exam no matter what.

Naruto rolled out of bed the morning of the First Exam, feeling nervous yet excited. He knew what was coming; in all of his parents' memories the First Exam had always featured some sort of intelligence gathering test, usually Konoha did this by forcing the genin to take a written test that had answers that no normal genin could answer followed by a do-or-die question that was the true meaning behind the test. Opening his closet, Naruto sighed as he took his in usual outfit of the bright orange jumpsuit, everyone belittled him for wearing such a non-ninja outfit but they didn't think about why he wore it. The outfit was the only thing that he had, the only thing that the shopkeepers of Konoha allowed him to buy. A wave of anger flowed over Naruto at the thought of his tormentors; '_Hypocrites,_' he thought savagely. '_Tou-san wanted me to be known as a hero, and yet these people spit on his final wishes even though they praise him for being one of the most powerful shinobi of all time alongside the Shodaime._'

Pushing aside his thoughts of revenge, '_That would only prove to them that I am what they fear,_' Naruto muttered to himself. In the back of Naruto's closet was his new outfit; he had taken inspiration from his father's outfit. Over the previous week, Naruto, under a disguise, had gone into several different stores to purchase his new clothes. His advanced _**Henge**_ had fooled the civilian shopkeepers easily and Naruto was able to purchase his supplies without incident and without the inflated prices that the shopkeepers liked to push onto him. The only store that Naruto never used a _**Henge**_ to shop at was shinobi supply store that was run by a retired shinobi. The owner of the store never overpriced Naruto, never chased him out of the store and always answered any of Naruto's questions.

"There you Naruto!" Sakura shouted as Naruto leapt down from a tree over hanging the path leading to the Academy. "You were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago!" Sakura blinked for a moment as she took in Naruto's new outfit. Gone was the bright orange jumpsuit; in its place was a much more subdued, ninja-like outfit. A forest green sleeveless hoodie covered a dark orange long-sleeved shirt with black ANBU-style pants and sandals; even Naruto's hair was different. It was longer, shaggier and had subtle streaks of red intermeshed with his golden blonde hair. Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto in shock.

"What?" Naruto asked sharply.

"What are you wearing?" Sakura asked.

"I thought it was time for a change," Naruto shrugged. "Our mission to Nami opened my eyes to the realities of this world. I need to start taking this seriously or I'll be killed easily."

Sasuke and Sakura blinked at Naruto's answer. '_Where is the blonde baka that would always shout out that he was going to become Hokage, he actually seems cool,_' Sakura thought.

'_**He has to be trying to copy Sasuke-kun! Cha!**_' a voice shouted in Sakura's head.

'_Looks like the dobe is getting is act together,_' Sasuke thought as he nodded to his blonde teammate.

"Baka, stop trying to act like Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted. "You'll never to as cool as Sasuke-kun!"

"Did I say anything at all about trying to be like Sasuke?" Naruto asked quietly as he looked at Sakura with a hard look. "Everyone kept making fun of me because of what I was wearing, saying it wasn't shinobi-like and now when I start taking this seriously, you're yelling at me. Perhaps you should take a look in the mirror, a red dress and pink hair aren't the most conspicuous outfit for being a ninja."

Sakura looked like Naruto had just slapped her while Sasuke was grinning slightly. '_Who knew the dobe could stand up for himself, the banshee needed that wake up call,_' the Uchiha heir thought.

"Come on you two," Sasuke barked as Sakura's eyes began to tear up. "We don't want to be late."

Naruto nodded. He and Sakura turned to follow Sasuke into the Academy. Naruto chanced a look back at his female teammate and saw her trying to hold back tears. Naruto felt his chest tighten and sighed.

"Look Sakura, I'm sorry about snapping at you but you know that I'm right," Naruto said. "You always told me that I needed to start taking being a ninja seriously and that wearing orange is a terrible color for being a shinobi. And then when I do change my clothes, you start yelling at me again. Look at your own clothes; bright red is almost as bad as orange. You can't be blind to your own faults Sakura. Mine was my hyper activeness and my attitude toward being a shinobi, I've tried to counter that but it's a work in progress. Kakashi-sensei said that you had the smallest chakra reserves on the team, and for the last two weeks you've been working on growing them and it shows. I know that you come from a civilian family, and you want to wear your clan's symbol and that's fine. But if you're going to berate me for my clothes, take a look at your own."

Sakura looked down at the ground. '_Naruto's lecturing me! Who does he think he is?_' she thought angrily.

'_**But is he wrong?**_ **Inner Sakura commented. **'_**During the Academy we would also yell at Naruto for wearing that hideous orange jumpsuit, and now when he changes, we yell at him again even when he did what we said to do.**_'

Sakura blinked. '_I never thought that you would be the voice of reason,_' she thought.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Sakura's face change from one of anger to confusion to acceptance. "Come on Sakura," he said. "We better get moving before Sasuke decides to pull that massive stick out of his ass and beats us over the head with it."

Sakura giggled and nodded. The pair raced down the path to catch up with their other teammate who was waiting for them at the entrance to the Academy. Team 7 made their way inside the Academy and turned toward the staircase to take them to the third floor.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as they came upon a group of ninja from all over trying to get inside the classroom but were being blocked by two older looking genin. '_Something is going on,_' Naruto thought. '_There's no way that we are on the third floor; we only went up one set of stairs…Genjutsu! They must be trying to weed out some of the competition by having a pre-test of sorts. This must be new since neither kaa-san or tou-san's memories have anything like this._'

"Release this pathetic _**genjutsu**_ and let us pass," Sasuke barked causing Naruto to slap his hand to his forehead.

"Oh so you noticed the _**genjutsu**_," one of the older genin smirked. In a puff of smoke, the pair changed their appearance to revel Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu, the chūnin duo that were always doing gate duty. "Looks like we've got some exceptional candidates," Izumo said causing several of the genin to grin. "But if you think just because you were able to see such a weak _**genjutsu**_ then you're going to get eaten alive during these Exams. They are no joke, chūnin are team leaders, and they are expected to lead genin teams on dangerous missions, missions that could cost people their lives. If you think that you'll just breeze through these exams, you've got another thing coming. People die in these exams."

"Have fun," Kotetsu grinned before the pair vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Come on," Sasuke ordered. Naruto and Sakura jogged after Sasuke.

"You shouldn't have said anything Sasuke," Naruto whispered. "You saw how many people didn't even realize the _**genjutsu**_, the competition would have been so much less."

"Coward," Sasuke grunted. "And here I thought that you were getting stronger, don't you want to fight."

"Not if I can help it," Naruto said, ignoring Sasuke's coward comment. "And if those teams couldn't see the _**genjutsu**_ then they wouldn't have been any real threat. The teams that easily made it past the _**genjutsu**_ are the ones that we need to keep an eye on."

"Hn," Sasuke snorted.

"Uchiha Sasuke!" a loud voice interrupted Team 7's musing. They turned to see a fellow Konoha genin who was wearing the most outlandish outfit they had ever seen, and that was saying something coming from the team that had a boy who would only wear a bright orange jumpsuit and a girl with pink hair and a red battledress. A green spandex jumpsuit covered the boy head to toe with dimmer orange leg warmers, bandages wrapped around his wrists and forearms along with his Konoha forehead protector around his waist as a belt. "I wish to challenge you! I want to see the so-called Rookie of the Year, the Uchiha genius."

Sasuke snorted. "Please," he grunted. "You wouldn't even be a challenge for someone like me."

"I am the strongest genin in Konoha," the boy said. "Let's see how you measure up Uchiha genius."

"You know my name, what's yours?" Sasuke asked.

"I am Rock Lee," Lee said with a thumb's up. Lee's large eyes cut to Sakura. "You must be Haruno Sakura. I promise to protect you with my life, will you go out with me?"

"Hell no!" Sakura cried causing Lee's head to drop.

"Don't mind her Lee," Naruto said. "Sakura is the type of girl who goes for the cool looking guy with the large stick up his ass and treats her like trash. Women are very interesting creatures, men can spend all their lives trying to understand them but will never gain more than a passing gleam."

Sakura and Sasuke blinked at Naruto's put down of both of them.

"I see, no matter," Lee said. "I still wish to test myself against the Rookie of the Year, the Uchiha genius Uchiha Sasuke. So then Sasuke will you accept my challenge?"

"Sasuke, don't do it," Naruto warned. "We're going to be late if we don't go now. I'm sure you'll get you chance to fight him during the Exams. Don't let your pride get you into a situation that your ass can't cash."

Sasuke's head whirled around to glare at Naruto, his _**Sharingan**_ spinning rapidly.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto is right," Sakura said softly. "We need to keep going."

"Tch, fine," Sasuke grunted. He turned back to Lee. "You got lucky this time, next time you won't be so."

Lee grinned. "We shall see Uchiha Sasuke, until next time then," he said before vanishing in a blur. Naruto blinked as he didn't see any smoke or leaves that usually marked the use of a _**Shunshin**_, if Lee hadn't used any materials to mask his jutsu that meant one of two things; that Lee was advanced enough in the jutsu to not need it or that wasn't a _**Shunshin**_. The second option was much more worrisome for Naruto.

"Sasuke-kun!" a grating female voice cried out as Team 7 made their way into room 301. "There you are!"

"Back off Ino-pig," Sakura growled as a long blonde-haired girl glopped onto Sasuke's back. Naruto had to stifle a snigger at the constipated look on Sasuke's face, come to think of it, that expression was always on Sasuke's face.

"So the whole gang is here," Naruto heard Kiba's voice bark out. Naruto turned to see the rest of his graduating class slip out of the crowd and walk over.

"Hey Forehead, where's that baka of a teammate of yours, Naruto?" Ino asked once Sasuke had thrown her off his back. "Hey there cutie, I'm Yamanaka Ino, what's your name?" she asked.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at one another, then to Naruto, before bursting out laughing.

"What are you laughing at Forehead?" Ino frowned. The rest of the Rookies were stunned to see that Sasuke was laughing, let alone smiling.

"Um Ino, that's Naruto," Sakura gasped, clutching her stomach.

"What!" the Rookies cried as Naruto lowered his hood to revel his blonde hair streaked with some red.

"NARUTO!" Ino cried as her face bloomed spectacularly. "What are you wearing?"

"My clothes," Naruto said with a blank face. "You know if I had known that all I had to do to get your attention was change my clothes, I would have done it years ago. Hey Sasuke, maybe if you want to get rid of your fan girls, you should wear my old jumpsuit. That thing was like a fan girl defense, I couldn't even get a girl to talk to me when I was wearing it."

Sasuke's eyes gleamed for a moment.

"You know you should keep it down," a smooth voice said from behind the Rookies. Naruto turned around to see a tall youth with gray hair and large circular glasses.

"Who are you?" Kiba snapped.

"Yakushi Kabuto," the boy answered. "And you are all just rookie genin, you might want to keep a lower profile. Most of these genin have been in the Chūnin Exams before so they won't appreciate rookies making them look bad."

"And yet you are now announcing our statuses to the entire room," Naruto said. Something about this boy was raising his hackles. "Only members of Konoha would know that we are rookies, if you hadn't said anything."

"Maa, maa," Kabuto said waving off Naruto's accusation.

"So how many times have you taken the exams?" Ino asked.

"This will be the seventh time," Kabuto said with an embarrassed grin.

"Wow you must suck," Kiba laughed.

"Or the Exams are much more difficult than you think," Shino said.

"So then Kabuto, if you've taken the exams so many times, you must know some tricks or shortcuts that we could use?" Naruto asked. "I mean we're all Konoha shinobi, and Konoha shinobi help each other out."

"Well there aren't any shortcuts or things like that I can give you," Kabuto said. "But I do have my nin info-cards."

"Nin info-cards?" Sasuke asked; he too was getting an uneasy feeling coming from the gray-haired youth. Kabuto grinned at the Uchiha heir before pulling out a deck of what looked like playing cards. He pulled one out of the deck and channeled some chakra into it.

"They're blank unless I channel some of my chakra into them," Kabuto said. "Uchiha Sasuke, genin, graduated top of his class. Member of Team 7 with Uzumaki Naruto, the dobe, and Haruno Sakura, the top kunoichi, under the tutelage of Hatake Kakashi. Mission stats: 15 D rank, 0 C rank, 0 B rank and 1 A rank mission in which he and Team 7 fought and defeated the Demon Brothers as well as Momochi Zabuza, the _**Kirigakure no Kijin**_. Known to have exceptional taijutsu and ninjutsu abilities, including several _**Katon**_ jutsus that his clan was well known for, above average genjutsu, also activated his Uchiha bloodline, the _**Sharingan**_, during his mission to Nami no Kuni."

"Your team went on an A rank mission!" Ino cried. "What the hell Forehead!"

Naruto and Sasuke narrowed their eyes at Kabuto. There should be no way that Kabuto could know all of that just from their ninja profiles. The Hokage had decreed that Team 7's mission to Name an A rank mission but had classified their reports.

"What about Naruto? Let's here all about the dobe," Kiba laughed. Kabuto grinned as he pulled out another card.

"Uzumaki Naruto, genin, failed the graduation exam three times before passing the special secondary exam. Member of Team 7 with Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura under Hatake Kakashi. Mission stats: 15 D ranks, 0 C ranks, 1 B rank and 1 A rank. Known to have below average taijutsu, non-existent genjutsu and average ninjutsu, special note, knows the B-rank kinjutsu _**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**_ and it's A-rank counterpart, the _**Taju Kage Bunshin**_. Has an immense amount of chakra, comparable to high-jonin levels."

"What!" the Rookies cried, spinning their heads toward Naruto, who was glaring at Kabuto. There was no way that anyone could have known about Naruto's B-rank, which Hiruzen awarded him after helping stop Mizuki the night of the graduation exam. Hiruzen had classified that report as well; in fact it wasn't even listed on his shinobi registration.

"Well then Kabuto, since you were kind enough to tell everyone mine and Sasuke's stats, why don't you tell us yours? I mean its only fair," Naruto said sharply, his voice dropping several degrees.

Kabuto arched an eyebrow but shrugged. "Yakushi Kabuto, genin, graduated five years ago in the middle of my class. I am teammates with Akadō Yoroi and Tsurugi Misumi. Mission stats: 145 D ranks, 12 C ranks, 1 B ranks and 0 A ranks. My taijutsu is average, ninjutsu above average and genjutsu below average. Well there you have it," Kabuto said. Naruto grinned and nodded in thanks.

'_He's lying through his teeth,_' Naruto thought. '_He just gave the bare minimum to his stats while give out Sasuke's full stats and mine as well. Going to have to keep an eye on him. And looks like Sasuke has the same idea._'

"All right you maggots," a voice boomed out as an explosion of smoke covered the entire front of the room. "Listen up or you'll be thrown out. Everyone take a number and find your seat."

A masked chūnin came around the room and handed out tiles with numbers written on them. Naruto's tile had the number 68 on it; Sasuke's had 24 while Sakura's had 107. Naruto sat down at his assigned seat and was stunned to see that Hinata was seated next to him.

"Hey Hinata," Naruto said watching as the Hyuga blushed madly.

"Hello Naruto-kun," she stammered, twiddling her fingers. "Good luck."

"You too," Naruto answered.

"Quiet you maggots," the proctor roared. "I am Morino Ibiki, the First Exam proctor and your worst nightmare. Now everyone pay attention because I'm only explaining the rules once." Ibiki went on to explain the rules to the First exam, Naruto hid a grin as the memories of his parents' Chūnin Exam experiences came to the forefront of his mind. It seemed that in the last twenty years, the first exam hadn't changed it was still a written test. Several chūnin passed out the sheets of paper for the test.

"You have one hour to complete this test," Ibiki barked. "The tenth and final question will be given out when there is only fifteen minutes left of the test. And begin!"

Naruto flipped over the test and quickly scanned each of the questions and grinned. None of these questions could be answered by normal genin; they were easily chūnin or jōnin level questions. For the next forty minutes Naruto answered five of the nine questions, giving only the bare minimum for a correct answer. He didn't want to expose his increased intelligence just yet and also incase he was wrong about the final question he didn't want to fail.

"All right pencils down," Ibiki ordered. "It's now time for the final questions. The assembled genin sat a little straighter in their seats. "However, there is another rule that I forgot to mention at the beginning."

"You can't do that!" a Kiri genin yelled, getting to his feet.

"Silence!" Ibiki roared. "I'm the master of this exam, I can change the rules anytime I want. If you don't sit down right now, you'll be thrown out along with your team." The Kiri genin glared back at Ibiki but sat down. "I thought so. Now the final rule is simple; you all have to decide on whether to take the final question or not."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked. "Of course we want to take the final question, what kind of stupid rule is that."

"Well you didn't let me finish gaki," Ibiki growled. "If you choose to take the question, and get it wrong, you fail, your team fails and you will be barred from taking the Chūnin Exams ever again."

Uproar met this announcement.

"What! You can't do that! People here have taken the Exams before," Kiba shouted.

"That's too bad, they didn't have me as proctor," Ibiki shrugged. "So what are all your decisions? You can choose to not take the question, fail, cause your team to fail as well but you will be able to take the Exams next time or do you risk it?"

Naruto sat down in his seat, eyes narrowed as he watched several teams struggle with the decision. After ten minutes, twelve more teams had been eliminated. Naruto looked behind him to see Sakura looking at him beseechingly, almost asking him to give up. Naruto snorted and shook his head, telling her that he wasn't going to give up. Sakura blinked at her blonde teammate, as memories of him crying out that he was going to become Hokage, she knew that Naruto had improved drastically since their return from Nami but there was no way he could answer any of these questions, let alone what was coming.

'_I'm sorry Naruto, Sasuke-kun but I can't let you…_' she thought as she began to raise her hand.

"That's enough Scarhead!" Naruto shouted, slamming his hand on the desk causing Hinata to jump in fright. "Enough of your pathetic mind fucks. Take them back to the Academy where they belong. We're ninja, making decisions without correct information is risk that we all take everyday. If we're not prepared to risk our lives, then we shouldn't be shinobi."

Ibiki glared at the blonde gaki starring him down, though inwardly he was laughing at the boy's guts. '_You were right Hokage-sama, Uzumaki is one tough nut to crack,_' Ibiki thought. '_Just three sentences was enough to knock all the doubts from everyone else's minds. Looks like that's all we're going to get._' He looked at the gathered chūnin, and when they nodded back to him, Ibiki's wide face broke into a smile.

"You pass!" he said.

"What!" the majority of the assembled genin cried.

"What about the tenth question?" Sakura asked.

"The decision to take the tenth question was actually the tenth question," Ibiki said. "As the blonde gaki said, there will be times in your careers that you are asked to make decisions without all the information, now do you say no and decline the mission? Hell no! There will be times in which you can't decline a mission, and you are thrown into the thick of it. You will have to make decisions that could cost you or your teammates' lives but you must steal yourselves for that reality. There will be times that you have to make life or death decisions, and you can't back out in the middle of a mission just because you are scared. If you do, then you're a scum and a coward."

Suddenly the windows to the classroom shattered as a large bundle of black cloth filled the front of the room, reveling a banner with a very attractive purple haired young woman standing before the banner.

"What the hell Ibiki! There's still twenty-five teams here," Anko cried.

"Well, we have some exceptional genin this year," Ibiki said.

"Well I'm going to cut this group in half," Anko grinned. "Now come along you cute little genin, you've got one hour to make it too Training Ground 44. If any of you are even a minute late, your team will be eliminated. Ja ne!" Anko disappeared in a puff of smoke and there was a stampede to get out of the room causing Ibiki and the other proctors to chuckle.

"Welcome to my home away from home, Training Ground 44, affectionately known as the Forest of Death," Anko grinned widely. Naruto had to admit, the backdrop was quite intimidating with the caged forest behind her; the only thing missing was a flash of lightning and clap of thunder. "Now the Second Exam will be a survival battle free for all! Each team will be given one of these scrolls and you will have to get both scrolls and reach the tower in the middle of the forest within five days. If you fail to obtain the other scroll in time, or your team isn't complete when you arrive at the tower, you fail! Now, sign these forms," she added brandishing a bunch of forms.

"What are these for?" Choji asked timidly.

"Release forms," Anko shrugged. "This way I won't be blamed if any of you die in there. And believe me, there will be deaths. Oh and if all of your team doesn't sign, you automatically fail the exam." Anko smiled widely at the paling of many of the genins' faces.

"You know," Anko whispered. "Fangirls like you are usually the first one to die." Sakura shrieked as she felt blood run down her cheek as Anko had suddenly thrown a kunai that nicked her cheek before appearing behind the pink haired genin.

A longhaired woman wearing the forehead protector of Kusagakure appeared behind Anko, holding her kunai out with her tongue.

"You know, you shouldn't sneak up on me if you want to keep that tongue of yours attached to the rest of your body," Anko said nonchalantly.

"My apologies proctor-san," the Kusa ninja said. "But the sight of blood got mine racing."

"I would appreciate it if you would step away from my teammate," Naruto growled as he appeared behind both Anko and the Kusa ninja. "While we might be allies with Kusa, as well as proctor-san you are a Konoha shinobi, I won't let you harm my teammate." A _**Kage Bunshin**_ had appeared behind the Kusa ninja, the clone and the original both had a kunai out and gently pressing against their necks. Anko grinned brightly.

"All right there gaki, no need to get your panties in a bunch," Anko laughed. She released Sakura and holstered her kunai.

"Thank you Naruto," Sakura whispered.

"No problem Sakura, you're my teammate," Naruto said. "But you should keep your guard up. In this type of exam, everyone is our enemy even the other Rookies."

"All right gakis, now get your asses to the gates so we can get this show on the road," Anko shouted once the release forms had been turned in and the scrolls handed out. Team 7 was given Gate 17 and was waiting for the Exam to start.

BUZZ!

The gate swung open and Team 7 leapt into the forest leaving the gate behind. They raced into the forest and found themselves in a clearing about 500 yards into the forest.

"So what's the plan?" Naruto asked.

"We should go straight for the Tower and set up an ambush," Sasuke said.

"That would work if the other teams were thinking the same thing," Naruto argued. "There's a river nearby, we should head there and follow it. Teams will need water and food, both of which the river provides, so we can ambush teams there and stay out of the way."

"Naruto, stop trying to act smart and cool like Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried. Naruto turned a stern glare on the pink-haired girl who froze and looked away from Naruto.

"I'm not disagreeing with Sasuke," Naruto said. "I'm just suggesting a different approach. If we head straight for the Tower, there's a good chance we'll run into stiffer opposition as we get closer, and I don't want to get caught in a melee where we could get really hurt or killed because there are too many teams in one spot."

"Fine dobe, we'll do it your way," Sasuke grunted. "But if we don't find someone soon, we do it my way."

"Right then," Naruto said. "_**Kage Bunshin!**_" Twenty clones puffed into existence around Team 7.

"What are you doing Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"_**Kage Bunshin**_ were made for reconnaissance and scouting, so that's what I'm having them do," Naruto said.

"But how will we know anything," Sasuke grunted. "Clones aren't used for anything more than a distraction."

"Not _**Kage Bunshin**_, they send any information they gain back to the creator," Naruto said. "So anything they see, once they dispel, I see. The only thing is that this jutsu uses a whole lot of chakra; you have to have at least jōnin-level reserves to use it."

Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened at Naruto's knowledge and the fact that the blonde had so much chakra. Naruto then had the clones transform into bugs and animals and sent them into the forest.

"That way people won't realize what they are," Naruto explained to Sasuke and Sakura. "If people see multiple copies of me running around, they'll know something is up but they won't notice bugs or animals."

"Come on, let's get moving," Sasuke ordered. Team 7 leapt off into the woods, heading toward the smell and sound of running water.

The sound of rushing wind brought Naruto's head up.

"Look out!" Naruto cried as he shoved Sakura and Sasuke down to the forest floor as a massive gust of wind rushed through the canopy and crashed into Naruto sending him flying through the trees.

"NARUTO!" Sakura and Sasuke cried as they landed on the ground.

"Hello there Sasuke-kun," a sinister voice hissed out of the shadows causing both Sakura and Sasuke to shiver in fright.

"Urgh!" Naruto groaned as he shook the cobwebs after slamming into the trunk of a tree. "What in Kami's name was that?"

A loud hiss brought Naruto's head up and his heart stopped. A massive snake was slithering down from the treetops toward Naruto, its eyes gleaming with malice and hunger.

"Kuso!" Naruto cried as he leapt upward to avoid the striking snake. "Like hell I'm going to be some snake's lunch. Eat this! _**Rasengan!**_"

A swirling ball of chakra formed in Naruto's hand as he dove down toward the snake. Naruto thrust his jutsu down into the snake's head. The jutsu drilled into the snake's large head for a moment before it exploded into a massive cloud of smoke.

Coughing, Naruto landed on a nearby branch. "What the hell was that?" Naruto said. "That should have killed that snake, why did it explode into…smoke? Oh kuso, that was a summoning! The only Snake summoner is…KUSO! Sakura, Sasuke!"

Naruto channeled as much chakra into his legs and pushed off the branch, rocketing away from the tree, leaving a large indentation in the bark.

"Who the hell are you!" Sasuke cried as he flung several kunai and shuriken at a mass of approaching snakes that the Kusa ninja had 'summoned'. The kunai and shuriken struck the snakes right behind the heads, killing them instantly.

"Most impressive," the Kusa ninja laughed. "Though it seems that you are not as advanced as your brother Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke froze. "What do you know of Itachi?" he shouted.

"I know quite about Itachi-kun," the ninja grinned. "How he gained a fully matured _**Sharingan**_ by the time he was 9, a jōnin at the age of 12 and an ANBU at 13. It seems that his prized younger brother isn't as talented as Itachi made him out to be."

A red veil fell over Sasuke's eyes as he activated his own _**Sharingan**_ and charged toward the Kusa ninja.

"Sasuke-kun, no!" Sakura cried as Sasuke flashed past her. The Kusa ninja grinned widely as she ducked under Sasuke's blow, bending back nearly ninety degrees. The ninja struck upward and punched Sasuke hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of Sasuke's stomach, before tossing him aside.

"Pathetic," the ninja sneered. "I thought that it was your dream to kill Itachi and avenge your clan. With that level of power, you won't even be able to touch Itachi. But I can help you gain the power you so desire and deserve."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke gasped as he tried to regain his breath.

"Don't listen to him Sasuke!" a new voice cried from above the battle. It was Naruto. "He's just trying to trick you."

"Naruto, what are you talking about? That's a woman!" Sakura cried.

"You would think so," Naruto said. "But that's not true, is it Orochimaru?"

Sasuke and Sakura froze at the name of Konoha's most notorious traitor behind only Uchiha Madara. They were fighting one of the Sannin! No wonder they were getting their butts handed to them.

"Oh so you know who I am eh Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru giggled, though it sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"What do you want traitor?" Naruto shouted, leaping down to stand next to Sakura.

"I am here to give Sasuke-kun a gift," Orochimaru said. "A gift of power, the power he desires and deserves."

"Sasuke, don't listen to this snake!" Naruto growled. "Anything he gives you comes with a price. Borrowed power is not true power, the only power worth attaining is that which you gain through your own sweat and pain."

"Interesting choice of words there Naruto-kun, especially coming from one gifted with nearly unlimited power, eh Konoha's little jinchuriki?" Orochimaru said.

"Jinchuriki?" Sasuke and Sakura asked but neither Naruto nor Orochimaru paid them any attention.

"I wasn't _gifted_ with this curse," Naruto growled. "It was thrust upon me without me having a choice in the matter."

"Semantics," Orochimaru shrugged. "But I must say, you seem to have grown nicely Naruto-kun. Minato-kun would be proud of the little weapon that he created."

Naruto snarled at the Snake Sannin but didn't respond to the jib against his father. He knew that he had no chance against Orochimaru.

"Sasuke, Sakura, get the hell out of here!" Naruto shouted. "We're no match for him." Naruto began channeling as much chakra as he could, creating a swarming blue aura to surround him. Orochimaru's eyes narrowed.

"Clever little jinchuriki," he mused before launching himself at Naruto. "But not clever enough."

"Naruto! Look out!" Sakura cried as Orochimaru closed in on Naruto.

"_**Taju Kage Bunshin!**_" Naruto roared. A massive cloud of smoke hid Naruto and Orochimaru from view for a moment but when the smoke cleared, Sasuke and Sakura's jaws dropped at the sight of hundreds of Narutos glaring down at the still smirking Sannin.

"Let's go," Naruto shouted as the majority of the clones leapt into the air and threw several shuriken and kunai.

"_**Shuriken Kage Bunshin!**_"

"_**Kunai Kage Bunshin!**_"

The shuriken and kunai multiplied from hundreds to thousands, nearly blocking out the sunlight streaming through the canopy.

"Sakura, Sasuke, let's go!" Naruto growled as he appeared beside the pair. He grabbed their arms and leapt off into the trees. "My clones won't be able to hold off Orochimaru for very long."

"Too right," an amused voice came from behind the trio.

"Kuso!" Naruto cursed as he looked over his shoulder to see Orochimaru leisurely keeping pace with the fleeing genin.

"I'm disappointed in you Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said in a sad tone. "To think that the son of those two would be such a sad excuse for a ninja."

Naruto flung Sasuke and Sakura aside as he turned to face Orochimaru. "Sakura, Sasuke keep going, get to the Tower! I'll hold him off," he shouted. Sasuke and Sakura were stunned to see the strength displayed by their blonde teammate. Sasuke was jealous at the fact that Naruto held this immense hidden strength while Sakura was shivering under the immense pressure coming from the two fighters.

"You're still decades away from giving me a challenge Naruto-kun," Orochimaru laughed as he ducked under the blonde's strike. Orochimaru struck Naruto's stomach with his fingers glowing.

Naruto screamed out in pain as he felt his chakra network go crazy before everything went dark.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried as Orochimaru caught the unconscious boy by the hood of his jacket and then tossed him aside like a piece of garbage. Sakura flung a kunai at Naruto, catching the back of his jacket and sticking into the trunk of a tree, pinning the boy to the trunk. "Sasuke-kun, what do we do? Naruto told us to run but we just can't abandon Naruto like that!"

"Yes quite the predicament," Orochimaru chuckled as he appeared before the two-stunned genin in a flash. Suddenly Orochimaru's neck extended and bit down on Sasuke's neck. Sasuke screamed out in pain.

"What did you do?" Sakura cried as she swiped at Orochimaru with a kunai.

"I have given Sasuke-kun what he deserves and desires," the Sannin cackled. "Power. Sasuke-kun will come and search me out for more power."

"Orochimaru!" a powerful voice cried out. Looking up, Sakura and Orochimaru saw the Sandaime Hokage along with several teams of ANBU standing above the clearing, glaring down at the Snake Sannin.

"Ah Hiruzen-sensei, such a nice surprise," Orochimaru grinned. "I'm afraid that I have a pressing engagement that I'm very nearly late for so I'll be seeing you." The Snake Sannin grinned grotesquely as he sunk into the ground and vanished from sight.

"Damnit!" Hiruzen growled as he and the ANBU teams leapt down to the forest floor next to Sakura. "Sakura-chan, are you all right?"

Sakura nodded numbly, still staring at the sight where Orochimaru vanished.

"Boar, get Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun, we're taking them to the Tower," Hiruzen ordered. The ANBU operative nodded and sent two members of his team to pick up the two unconscious genin.

"Hokage-sama, what about the Second Exam? Isn't that cheating? We are supposed to reach the Tower on our own," Sakura questioned.

Hiruzen smiled kindly down at the trembling kunoichi. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, this will be an exception," he said. "But right now we need to get Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun medical attention. And I will need to know everything that happened during your confrontation with my wayward student."

"Hai Hokage-sama," Sakura said before passing out. Hiruzen caught the pink-haired girl before she hit the ground and chuckled. "Inu, come here and carry her."

"Hai!"

"Urgh!" Sakura groaned. "What happened?"

"You fainted Sakura-chan," a stern, yet amused voice answered her. The pink haired girl looked up to see the Hokage sitting next to her bed.

"Hokage-sama," Sakura cried.

"Easy there Sakura-chan," Hiruzen chuckled. "Don't worry, you are safe now."

"What about Naruto and Sasuke-kun? Are they alright?"

"They are still unconscious right now but otherwise fine," Hiruzen said. "But now I need to know what happened in the forest, and don't leave anything out."

"Hai Hokage-sama," Sakura said. She then gave a textbook mission report to the Hokage, telling the old man about how Team 7 was separated forcibly, how Orochimaru seemed to playing with Sasuke and Sakura, then how Naruto appeared in time to rescue them. How Naruto summoned hundreds of clones to cover their escape but Orochimaru easily caught up with them, then the Sannin hit Naruto with something that caused him to fall unconscious before biting Sasuke on the neck.

"And that's when you showed up Hokage-sama," Sakura said finishing her report.

"I see," Hiruzen said, aching to pull out his pipe and smoke to stem the oncoming headache. "Well, I must say Sakura-chan, that you and your team are to be commended for this. Not many jōnin or chūnin, let alone genin, are able to stand their grounds against Orochimaru. Now rest for the rest of the day."

"What about the Second Exam? I mean, we don't have the second scroll, does that mean we fail?" Sakura asked.

Hiruzen chuckled. "Naruto-kun is quite the unpredictable ninja, it seems that he was able to find a Heaven scroll sometime before you were attacked," he said. "So your team has both scrolls."

Sakura blinked. "It must have been when Naruto sent out those clones earlier," she cried. At Hiruzen's confused expression, she told the Hokage about Naruto and Sasuke's argument and how Naruto sent out clones to scout out the area."

Hiruzen laughed deeply. "So Naruto-kun has figured out the secret to the _**Kage Bunshin**_," he said. "And has learned to use them in some quite ingenious ways."

"Hokage-sama, Orochimaru called Naruto something," Sakura said. "It sounded like jinchuriki or something? What does that mean?"

The Hokage's face immediately changed from jovial old man to the most powerful man in the village. "Haruno Sakura, you are not to repeat that word to anyone do you understand?" he rumbled. Sakura trembled but nodded. "Naruto holds many secrets but they are his secrets to tell. Do not pressure him into telling you or you will lose him."

"I understand Hokage-sama," Sakura said, her voice still shaking.

"I'm sorry to be strict with you Sakura-chan but some secrets are better left secret," Hiruzen said. "Now, you have four days to rest and recover until the end of the exam. Now get some rest."

Sakura nodded and settled back into her bed, her mind still swirling. '_Why would the Hokage react that way when I said jinchuriki?_' she thought.

'_**It's something that we shouldn't worry about right now,**_'** Inner** **Sakura said. **'_**We have our teammates to worry about. There will be time to figure it out after the Exams. But we will have to be careful if the Hokage's reaction is anything to go by.**_'

Sakura nodded and slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Ah Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said as he entered another hospital room. "I see you are awake."

"Hey old man," Naruto said as he sat up in bed, muscles groaning in protest. "What happened? The last thing I remember was Orochimaru hitting me in the stomach."

"I don't know for sure," the old man said. "Let's take a look."

Naruto slid out of bed and lifted up his shirt to revel his seal glowing. "What's going on?" Naruto asked. "Something happened to my seal, it doesn't look like my regular seal."

"Yes," Hiruzen mused. "My wayward student has placed another seal on top of yours. From my limited experience it looks like a _**Gogyō Fūin**_."

Naruto's eyes lit up as he somehow recognized the seal. Suddenly, each of Naruto's fingers glowed blue and he jabbed himself in the stomach calling out, "_**Gogyō Kaiin!**_"

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing?" Hiruzen cried as Naruto fell to his knees, gasping for breath.

"Don't worry old man," Naruto said. "I just undid the seal."

"How did you know how? You've shown no skill in _**fuinjutsu**_ before."

Naruto blinked. "I don't know," he said. "But once you said what it was, I suddenly knew how to undo it. It was the same in the forest, I was attacked by one of Orochimaru's summons and I used this jutsu called _**Rasengan**_ but I had never heard of it or seen it."

"What did you say Naruto-kun? You said you used the _**Rasengan**_?"

Naruto channeled some chakra into the palm of his hand and in a second a swirling ball of chakra appeared. Hiruzen's mouth fell open in shock.

"How?"

"I don't know," Naruto said. "I wonder if when I absorbed my parents' chakra, I got their memories as well as their jutsus. It's like I have the knowledge of these jutsus that I have never heard of and I know how to do them at least the directions on how to preform them."

"Naruto-kun, you are truly the most unpredictable ninja I have ever known," Hiruzen laughed. "I think that's the most likely scenario that we have. I've never heard of what your father did putting his and your mother's chakra in the seal as well, so it is entirely possible for you to gain their memories and jutsu knowledge."

"Hey jiji, what about the Second Exam? Did we pass?" Naruto asked.

"Hai Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said. "Your clones were able to find a second scroll and even though your team technically didn't reach the Tower on your own, Team 7 will be able to advance due to extenuating circumstances."

"Sugoi!" Naruto cried before groaning as his muscles screamed in protest.

"Naruto-kun, rest for now," Hiruzen said. "You have four more days until the Exam ends, so take this time to recover your strength and get your mind organized." Naruto nodded and climbed back into bed.

"Where are Sakura and Sasuke?"

"Sasuke-kun is still recovering from Orochimaru's attack while Sakura-chan is resting comfortably in her own room," Hiruzen said. "Sakura-chan told me what happened in the forest and I must say that you have certainly proved yourself worthy of your parents' namesake, not many ninja would be able to stand firm in Orochimaru's presence, no genin that I can think of, not even your father."

Naruto blinked before blushing heavily and rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks jiji," he whispered.

Hiruzen smiled down at his surrogate grandson before turning toward the door and leaving Naruto alone to fall back asleep.

**A/N: Well there's the second chapter of this new story. I will be asking for suggestions on a new title, I just threw the current title together so that this story would have one. I can't really think of one at the moment, so if you all have a suggestion let me know. For fans of my '_Vengeance_' story, don't fret, I will post this weekend, the sixth chapter is about 80% done. As always, please read and review this chapter, any constructive criticism is always welcome. I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing, and getting reviews or PMs is the best way.**

**Enjoy**

**S.R.W.M.O**


	3. Arc I: Chap III

**Disclaimer: _Naruto_ doesn't belong to me, I'm just taking bit and pieces and throwing them into a pot and hoping that a gourmet meal comes out of the oven that is my mind.**

"Uzumaki-san, your presence is requested in the main hall," an ANBU member said after knocking on the door to Naruto's door. "The preliminaries are about to begin."

"Hai, thank you ANBU-san," Naruto said pulling on his hooded jacket. Naruto walked out of his room, hands deep in his pant's pockets, heading toward the main hall thinking about what the ANBU operative said. '_Preliminaries huh,_' Naruto thought. '_Guess too many teams made it through the forest? Lucky that we made it here so quickly, I would have hated to have to fight right after finishing the exam._'

As Naruto entered the main hall, he spotted Sakura and Sasuke standing over to the side. The rest of the Rookie 9 were also present, along with a team from Suna, and older team from Konoha.

"Hey Sakura, Sasuke," Naruto called as he made his way over to his teammates.

"Hi Naruto," Sakura said brightly. Sasuke just nodded curtly.

"Man are we lucky that we got here so quickly," Naruto said. "I would have hated to fight right after finishing the exam."

"What are you taking about dobe?" Kiba's grating voice asked from behind Team 7. Naruto huffed at the sound of the Inuzaka heir.

"Well, we got here at the end of the first day so we've had time to rest," Naruto said.

"What!" Kiba cried. "How the hell did you get here so fast? We just barely got here in time."

"We got lucky," Naruto said quickly. "We found a weak team from Ame and once we took their scroll, headed straight here avoiding any other teams."

"Man you guys are lucky," Kiba groaned. Sakura and Sasuke gave Naruto a look about his lie; Naruto just shook his head telling them to keep quiet.

A large puff of smoke at the head of the room brought the genins' attention to the arrival of the Hokage and the remaining teams' senseis along with Anko, the proctor.

"Congratulations to all you who have passed the Second Exam," Hiruzen said. "Now unfortunately there are still too many competitors to proceed directly to the Third Exam, so we will be having a series of preliminary matches to whittle down the competitors."

"What!" Kiba cried. "You can't be serious we just got here and now we have to fight!"

"That's your own fault genin," Anko snapped. "You should have gotten here faster."

"Thank you Anko-chan," Hiruzen said. "Now, the board behind me will revel two names and they will fight, the winner advancing on the Third Exam. Now many of you are probably wondering why we would be having preliminaries, well to be blunt. The Chūnin Exams are a substitute for war between the Five Great Nations."

"War?" Ino asked timidly.

"Yes," Hiruzen nodded. "The Chūnin Exams were set up between our villages to create an environment where each village can show of their promising shinobi without all out war."

"You're showing us off?" Shikamaru asked. "Why?"

"Each village competes for missions and clients," Hiruzen said with a smile. "And the Chūnin Exams allow us to foster healthy competition between the villages as well as show off our village's strength."

A ninja appeared before the Hokage, a sword strapped to his back and his forehead protector worn as a bandana. "Hokage-sama, perhaps it would be best for me to continue?" the ninja asked.

"Very well Hayate-kun," Hiruzen said with a sigh.

"My name is Hayate Gekkō, your referee and proctor for the preliminaries of the Second Exam," the sickly jōnin said. "If you would all make your way up to the viewing platforms, we may begin."

The genin made their way up to the platforms where they met with their senseis.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, why didn't you tell us about this?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I couldn't," Kakashi said. "Senseis aren't supposed to tell their teams anything about the exams, if you are promoted to chūnin, you won't be my students any longer and will be on your own most of the time. You have to learn how to survive on your own."

"Oh," Sakura said.

"But I am very proud of each of you for making it this far," Kakashi added with an eye smile. "Not many rookies make it past the first exam, so to get here is a very good accomplishment. Especially after what you three had to deal with in the Forest."

The three genin of Team 7 shivered at the mention of their fight against Orochimaru. The ringing of a bell brought Team 7 out of their flashback and they turned back to the front of the room where a large blackboard had descended from the ceiling.

_Haruno Sakura vs. Akadō Yoroi_

Sasuke and Naruto looked to their female teammate, who was rather pale while she looked at the board.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan, you'll do fine," Naruto said. "You've gotten a lot stronger since our mission to Nami. Just do your best and no one can take anything from you."

Sakura looked at Naruto and grinned weakly before walking down to the arena floor. Across the arena from Sakura was one of Kabuto's teammates, a tall muscular boy with a mask covering the lower half of his face as well as his neck with dark sunglasses and his forehead protector acting like a bandana.

"Oh come on," Yoroi groaned. "This won't even be a challenge. I wanted to face the Uchiha brat but I got stuck with the pink haired fangirl."

Sakura's face grew dark as Hayate signaled the beginning of the fight. She threw several shuriken at the masked genin who laughed and easily dodged the thrown shuriken.

"You should just give up girlie," Yoroi taunted. "You've got no shot at beating me, I don't even know why you became a ninja, you're so weak."

Sakura yelled as she threw several more shuriken before charging toward the older genin, a kunai in her hand. Yoroi stopped laughing as he weaved his way through the shuriken and met Sakura in the middle of the arena. He ducked under the kunai strike and slapped Sakura's hand aside before grabbing the pink haired girl around the neck. Sakura choked as air was suddenly cut off from her lungs as well as she felt her strength begin to drain away. She tried to wrench Yoroi's hand away from her neck but to no avail. Slowly Sakura's attempts to knock Yoroi's hand away faltered before her hands dropped limply to her sides.

"Sakura!" Naruto cried as he gripped the guardrail tightly, ready to leap over the railing to the arena floor. "Let her go, you've won already!"

"The proctor hasn't called the fight," Yoroi sneered. "And besides a weakling like this doesn't deserve be a ninja, let alone live."

"You bastard!" Naruto roared as he and Sasuke leapt over the guardrail as Sakura's face started to grow blue.

"Winner Akadō Yoroi," Hayate shouted as he, Naruto and Sasuke leapt forward. Yoroi sneered once more before tossing Sakura aside. Naruto quickly created a _**Kage Bunshin**_ that caught the unconscious girl while the original and Sasuke put themselves in front of the clone and Sakura.

"If we meet in the Finals, I'm going to kill you!" Naruto snarled as his eyes became slits and his teeth grew.

Yoroi scoffed. "Whatever freak," the older genin sneered. "Take your pathetic teammate and get out of here."

"Naruto, Sasuke," Kakashi's voice barked out as he appeared behind the two boys, a hand on each of their shoulders. "That's enough. Go back up to the platforms, I'll take Sakura to the medical wing. That's an order," he added when Naruto and Sasuke looked ready to disobey.

Naruto growled but then reigned himself in. He turned to Sasuke, who had activated his _**Sharingan**_. "Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei is right. We'll deal with the bastard later. He'll take care of Sakura-chan, we need to focus on our own fights."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted though Naruto sensed an undercurrent of anger in the Uchiha's heir grunt. Naruto and Sasuke turned their backs on Yoroi and leapt back up to the viewing platform. The other members of the Rookie 9 were stunned to see the reactions of Naruto and Sasuke, sure they were angry that Yoroi had beaten up their classmate more than what was needed but Sasuke especially, had never acted like Sakura meant anything to him.

The board beeped again and two new names appeared. Sasuke and Naruto growled as neither of their names appeared.

_Akimichi Choji vs. Inuzaka Kiba_

"All right," Kiba cried. "Let's go Akamaru!" The feral Inuzaka heir leapt over the railing and landed on all fours on the arena floor. Akamaru yipped excitedly as he leapt down from his partner's head. Choji followed his opponent down to the arena floor in a more sedate manner.

Hayate announced the start of the fight, and instantly Kiba made several hand signs.

"_**Shikyaku no Jutsu!**_" he shouted. Chakra shrouded around Kiba as the feral ninja dropped to all fours. His fingers became clawed and his eyes grew wild. Rushing forward at impressive speed, Kiba leapt toward Choji and slashed his clawed-hands at the Akimichi heir. Choji stumbled backward to avoid Kiba's attack, though his shirt and scarf was torn to near-shreds.

Kiba kept after Choji not allowing the hefty boy any space to counterattack. The game of cat-and-mouse continued for several minutes as Choji struggled to stay ahead of Kiba's attacks. Choji managed to leap backward as Kiba ended his jutsu, panting.

"_**Baika no Jutsu!**_" Choji shouted. His body grew to three times its usual size. "_**Nikudan Sensha!**_"

Kiba growled as he leapt away from Choji's attack, the spinning ball of Choji turned nearly on a dime to follow Kiba. Kiba backed up until he was up against the wall and watched as Choji barreled down toward him. He leapt up onto the wall and just before Choji's attack connected, Kiba leapt off the wall. The wall shuddered as Choji slammed into it. He quickly stopped spinning and looked around in a daze.

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted, flicking a pill at the small white dog. Akamaru swallowed the bill and growled deeply as his fur turned a deep red. In a puff of smoke later, a second Kiba appeared in Akamaru's place.

"_**Gatsūga!**_" Kiba shouted. The twin Kibas leapt into air and spun rapidly like a top. Choji looked up to see Kiba and Akamaru barreling down toward him. Kiba and Akamaru's attack slammed into the hefty boy with a mighty crash.

"Choji!" Ino cried as smoke blocked the other genins' view of the battle. Shikamaru was gripping the railing so tight that his knuckles had turned white.

When the smoke cleared, it showed Kiba and Akamaru standing over a bleeding and battered Choji along with two large craters in the wall.

"Winner Inuzaka Kiba," Hayate announced.

"All right!" Kiba cried as he jumped around. Then he looked at Choji and said, "Sorry buddy."

A medical team came out onto the arena floor and quickly put the unconscious Choji onto a stretcher and took him away.

"Damnit Kiba, you didn't have to hurt Choji so much," Ino shouted when Kiba had returned to the viewing platform. Kiba growled.

"Shut up Ino," Naruto snapped. "We are ninja! Being in dangerous situations is a daily occurrence for us; Choji knew this. Don't disrespect Choji's efforts, he did his best Kiba was just better. Instead of berating Kiba for being better, help Choji get stronger for the next Exams."

Ino glared at Naruto while Shikamaru frowned. "Naruto's right," the Nara heir. "Kiba beat Choji fair and square, you can't fault Kiba for that. Choji needs to work harder, we all do."

_Nara Shikamaru vs. Tsuchi Kin_

"Looks like you're up Shikamaru," Naruto said. Shikamaru looked over at the board and groaned then his opponent.

"Troublesome, I have to fight a girl," he muttered.

"What did you say?" Ino growled. Shikamaru shook his head as he made his way down to the arena floor where his opponent was already waiting for him. Naruto noticed the kunoichi was one of the Otogakure genin. He had a funny feeling about their sensei who wasn't watching the fights but was staring at Sasuke with an intense hunger that sent shivers up and down Naruto's spine.

**Shikamaru and Kin's fight is the same as in canon**.

The board rotated and brought up two new names. "Would Aburame Shino and Dosu Kinuta please come down here?" Hayate asked from the arena floor. Naruto looked over at Hinata and Kiba's teammate, the hooded Shino. Naruto knew that Shino was a very capable shinobi, very logical and always taking the most logical route to reach his goal. Information about the Aburame clan flooded his mind; how they allowed insects to use their bodies as hives in exchange for their abilities in battle. Naruto felt a small amount of companionship with Shino; he 'knew' that the Aburame clan was sometimes looked upon with disgust and fear due to their clan's abilities, much like how Naruto was looked down upon and feared due to having the fox sealed within.

"Begin!" Hayate shouted before leaping back. Neither shinobi moved, each attempting to sound the other out.

"Come on, someone do something," Ino whined as she brushed her hair aside.

"Be quiet Ino, just because neither Shino nor his opponent are moving, that doesn't mean they aren't do anything," Naruto growled. "They're most likely trying to see who will make the first move and then how they will counter that move."

"Correct Naruto," Kakashi said with a grin down at his blonde student.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto and Sasuke cried.

"How's Sakura?" Naruto asked. Kakashi's mask moved slightly signaling that he was frowning.

"Physically she's ok," the silver-haired man said. "However, her opponent was able to drain her chakra to dangerously low levels so the medics had to put her in a coma while her chakra replenished itself. They won't know anything else for sometime."

Sasuke and Naruto looked stricken at the news before looking over at Kabuto's teammate and Sakura's opponent. The older genin was smirking at the pair, looking very smug.

"Don't worry about Sakura," Kakashi said. "She's in the best hands, worry about your fights. She's going to want to know how you both did when she wakes up. Oh look, the action is starting." Naruto and Sasuke turned away from Yoroi to look back down at the arena floor.

Shino had raised his arms and twin clouds of bugs came spilling out of his sleeves, Naruto frowned when he heard Ino make a sound of disgust.

Dosu charged forward and raised the arm that was covered by a metal gauntlet. Shino leapt backward as he sent his bugs at the charging Oto ninja. Dosu tapped his metal arm and suddenly the bugs scattered.

"I see," Shino said. "Your metal arm amplifies sound waves and you use your chakra to guide them as an attack. Quite interesting."

"Impressive for you to analyze my attacks so quickly," Dosu said. "But that doesn't mean you'll be able to beat me."

"Incorrect," Shino said. A loud buzzing filled the arena as more bugs poured out of Shino's sleeves.

"What is that sound?" Ino asked.

"Very clever," Kakashi muttered.

"What do you mean Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"It seems that Shino is attempting to create his own sound waves to block his opponents," Kakashi said. "And it seemed to have surprised his opponent."

Sure enough, Dosu was rapidly hitting his metal arm, sending out random sound waves on different frequencies in an attempt to disrupt Shino's counterattack. However, there were too many bugs for Dose's sound waves to disrupt and soon they had him surrounded.

"Surrender or my kikaichū will devour your chakra and you will lose anyway," Shino said firmly. Dosu looked around him before glancing up at his sensei who was just looking down at him with cruel malice shining in his eyes.

"Fine, I surrender," Dosu growled as he lowered his arms. Shino silently recalled his kikaichū, bowed to Hayate before turning away from Dosu. The Oto ninja nodded at the proctor before making his own way back up to the viewing platform. The proctor called the next fight, which caused many of the remaining genin to blink.

_Hyuga Hinata vs. Rock Lee_

"Yosh!" Lee shouted as he leapt down from the viewing platform. Naruto winced as he saw Hinata's face. She was trembling as she made her way down to the arena floor.

"Hinata-san, let us showcase our flames of youth and have a very youthful fight," Lee cried, giving Hinata a 'nice-guy' pose. Hinata flinched as she looked up at the other Hyuga in the room, who was looking down at Hinata with a smug and superior grin though Naruto could see rage burning in the Hyuga's white eyes.

"Don't worry Hinata, just do your best," Naruto cried. "You never will know how strong you are unless you try!"

Hinata blushed brightly as Naruto's words of encouragement and turned to face her opponent who was bouncing up and down on his heels in obvious excitement.

"Lee-san, I hope that we have a good match as well and wish you luck," Hinata stammered out before falling into her Jūken stance. Lee blinked in confusion before his face grew into an even wider smile.

"Yosh Hinata-san, I wish you luck as well in our most youthful match," Lee cried.

"Begin!" Hayate barked as he leapt backward. Hinata activated her Byakugan, Lee got into his own stance before rocketing forward. In the blink of an eye, Lee was below Hinata, striking her with a rising kick to the chin. Hinata was thrown into the air; Lee suddenly appeared behind Hinata before spinning in midair and slamming his heel into Hinata's stomach, sending Hinata hurtling to the arena floor with a loud crash.

Naruto and the other Rookies winced at the sound of Hinata slamming into the stone wall with an audible thud and smack.

"Hinata!" Kiba shouted from the platform. He made ready to leap over and savagely attack the green-clad ninja.

"Kiba, restrain yourself," Kurenai barked.

"But sensei!" Kiba cried.

"Kiba-san," Shino said. "Do not dishonor Hinata's efforts."

"But…"

"Winner Rock Lee," Hayate announced. Lee settled down from his stance and frowned at the downed Hyuga. He bowed to his fallen opponent.

"Thank you Hinata-san, please recover promptly," Lee said before leaping back up to join his team.

"So much for the vaunted strength of the Main Branch," the other Hyuga sneered.

"Neji-kun, do not dishonor yourself by speaking ill of the defeated," Gai snapped. "Hinata-chan might not be as proficient in defending herself from Lee as you are but that does not make her efforts any less youthful."

"Tch,' Neji scoffed.

"You know I think someone has supplanted you as the most arrogant teme in the village," Naruto muttered to Sasuke. "Come to think of it, he might even have a bigger stick up his ass than you."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he glared at Naruto who just chuckled.

The next fight pitted Lee's teammate, Tenten, against the Suna kunoichi, Temari. The match was over quickly as Tenten, being a weapons mistress was at a major disadvantage when facing Temari who was a _**Futon**_ user. Temari used her fan to knock aside Tenten's weapons before using a _**Futon**_ jutsu to throw Tenten into the wall and ending the fight.

_Zaku vs. Misumi_

Naruto watched as the final Oto ninja leapt down to the floor followed by Kabuto's final teammate. For some reason the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up on end as he watched the fight begin. Zaku had some type of implant in his arms that allowed him to air massive air blasts from his hands. For much of the fight, Zaku seemed to have Misumi on the ropes but Naruto noticed that as the fight wore on, Misumi was slowly working his way closer to Zaku. He also noticed that Zaku's air blasts were getting weaker and weaker.

"You're done for," Misumi snarled as he leapt onto Zaku and suddenly the Konoha ninja's body contorted itself as if he was made of rope and latched onto Zaku's body. "Give up or I'll snap your neck."

"I'll never give urk…" Zaku's defiant proclamation was cut off with an audible SNAP. The Oto ninja slumped in Misumi's grip and the Konoha ninja slowly uncoiled himself from around the dead boy.

Naruto noticed that many of the Rookie 9 looked disgusted at the display and frowned. Sure, Misumi hadn't needed to kill Zaku but death is something that every ninja has to deal with and while it might seem cruel, the younger the better as it shatters the delusional fantasies that young ninja usually have, dreams filled with heroics and rescuing damsels in distress. The real shinobi world was not black and white, good and evil; it was varying shades of gray, of questionable morals and doing things that you know to be wrong but needed to be done for the 'Greater Good'.

The board beeped for an eighth time and Naruto looked up.

_Hyuga Neji vs. Sabaku no Gaara_

Naruto arched an eyebrow at the matchup. He knew that Gaara was strong and a bit crazy due to his teammates edging away from him, and Neji was quite strong as well. He was the Rookie of the Year the year before the Rookie 9 graduated and rumors around the village was that Neji was a prodigy of the highest degree.

"This should be interesting," Naruto muttered as he watched Neji and Gaara get ready.

"You are quite unwise to be facing me, even when you are Fated to lose," Neji sneered as he activated his Byakugan. Gaara didn't even blink but once the proctor signaled the start of the match, sand poured out of the gourd strapped to his back. Neji rushed forward, ducking through Gaara's sand attacks, and struck at Gaara with several burst of chakra. Gaara just arched an eyebrow, the first sign of emotion that Naruto had seen him do aside from crazed murderous glee. Neji leapt backward as more and more sand poured from Gaara's gourd. The sand rushed toward Neji in a wave, unending and surprisingly fast.

"_**Kaiten!**_" Neji shouted as he spun in place. A spinning dome of chakra encircled Neji and sent the oncoming sand flying away, though Naruto noticed the jutsu didn't seem complete as the spinning chakra seemed to start and stop, not flow in one motion.

"But that's a Main Branch technique," Hinata whispered. "How does Neji-nii-san know that?"

"Impressive," Kakashi commented.

"What was that technique?" Kiba asked.

"It's is a Hyuga clan secret technique, though only members of the Main Branch are taught it," Hinata said. "For Neji-nii-san to know of and to be able to perform the technique is amazing."

"So Neji is really strong?" Kiba asked.

"Hai," Hinata said.

"But it seems that Gaara is stronger," Naruto said. "Neji hasn't moved Gaara from his spot since the start of the fight. He's hiding something."

The other Rookies and their senseis looked at Naruto in shock. "What are you talking about baka?" Ino cried. "Stop trying to act smart it's not working."

"Would you shut up Ino!" Naruto shouted. "If you don't have any productive comments to make then keep your mouth shut!"

Ino staggered backward as if she had been slapped; the other Rookies were gaping at Naruto while Asuma, Kakashi, Kurenai and Gai were now frowning at Naruto.

"Uzumaki, that's enough," Asuma said sternly. "You don't have to shout."

"Oh so Ino can yell and nearly make our ear drums bleed but I can't tell her to shut up," Naruto retorted. "Maybe you should teach your students some manners Sarutobi-san, or perhaps scold Ino for shouting if you are going to berate me for shouting."

Asuma frowned but he couldn't say anything because Naruto was right.

"Remember your place _genin_," Kurenai snapped. Naruto just ignored her.

Suddenly blood-curdling screams brought everyone's attention back to the fight. Gaara's sand had suddenly poured out of the gourd and sped toward Neji, engulfing his right arm and leg. Gaara raised a hand and clenched his fist. Blood spurted out from Neji's sand-encased limbs, Naruto's sharper than normal hearing heard Neji's arm and leg bones snap like twigs and he flinched at the sound of Neji's screams.

"Not enough," Gaara murmured. "Mother needs more of your blood!" Another wave of sand exploded from the gourd and sped toward Neji. Suddenly, the sand fell apart as Gai appeared in front of his screaming student. Gaara looked at the dark haired jōnin for a moment before clutching his head and screaming.

"Winner Sabaku no Gaara, medic!" Hayate shouted. A medical team came rushing out onto the arena floor and loaded the now-unconscious Neji onto a stretcher before rushing away. Gai, Lee and Tenten raced after the medical team carrying their stricken teammate. The other spectators were stunned to see the ruthlessness that Gaara exhibited, Hinata was trembling as the sight and sounds of her cousin being thrown around like a rag doll, the cousin who was considered a prodigy of the Hyuga Clan and the strongest genin in Konoha.

_Sabaku no Kankurō vs. Uchiha Sasuke_

Naruto turned to his teammate. "Make sure you win," the blonde said. "That make-up dude is way too cocky."

Sasuke nodded.

"Sasuke, be careful about using jutsus," Kakashi warned. "That seal reacts to your use of chakra, even using your _**Sharingan**_ is a risk."

"I understand Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke said before leaping down to meet Kankurō.

"So I get to face off against the Uchiha," Kankurō sneered. "This should be easy. The runt Uchiha."

Sasuke growled as he waited for the proctor to start the fight. Hayate slashed his hand down to signal the beginning of the fight. Sasuke raced forward and threw a quick jab at Kankurō's face but the taller boy just leaned out of the way, grabbing Sasuke's wrist and pulled, pulling the Uchiha heir off balance. Kankurō raised an elbow, ready to drop it down onto Sasuke's own extended arm. But Sasuke used the added momentum from Kankurō's pull to wrench his knee upward and cause Kankurō to drop his attack to block Sasuke's own. Sasuke wrenched his other arm free and leapt backward.

'_Is this guy made of wood or something? When he grabbed my arm, it didn't feel like a regular hand, it felt like a claw or something,'_ Sasuke thought as he narrowed his eyes at the Suna shinobi. He dashed forward once more and launched a series of punches and kicks that Kankurō easily blocked over avoided. Leaping backward to gain space from the older genin, Sasuke chanced a look up at the viewing platform where Naruto and Kakashi were watching. '_Sorry sensei, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to keep my promise about no jutsus,_' Sasuke thought. '_But if I want to win this, I'm going to have to get serious.'_

"_**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**_" Sasuke shouted. He lifted his hand in front of his mouth and blew through his fingers. A massive fireball appeared in front his mouth and shot toward Kankurō. The Suna shinobi leapt aside to avoid the _**Katon**_ jutsu. Kankurō tossed a smoke bomb on the ground, causing white smoke to envelope the arena floor. Sasuke activated his _**Sharingan**_ just in time to avoid several kunai flung at him from the smoke.

"You're going to have to do better than that," Sasuke taunted. "Is that all you're good for, just hiding in the smoke? Pathetic."

The clattering of wood alerted Sasuke to something coming toward him from inside the smoke. He ducked under a brace of senbon and flung several kunai of his own toward the sound of wood.

"There you are!" Sasuke shouted darting into the smoke. "So that's your game is it, you're a puppeteer. Don't bother trying to hide; my eyes can see your chakra strings. You used that smoke bomb to get away because you didn't want to caught in my attacks."

"Kuso!" Kankurō cursed as the smoke finally dispersed. He twitched a finger, causing a wooden puppet to appear before him. "So you're not as dumb as you look," the Suna shinobi growled. "Too bad some special eyes won't be enough to beat me." The puppet's mouth fell open and dozens of senbon came spitting out of the open mouth. Sasuke backflipped backward to avoid the thin needles, skidding to a stop, Sasuke raised a hand and spat several small fireballs at Kankurō who leapt aside and twitched his fingers to make his puppet dodge the flames.

Sasuke launched himself off the wall and sped toward Kankurō at impressive speeds. Kankurō maneuvered his puppet in front of him and with a twitch of the finger; several blades sprang from its limbs. Sasuke grinned as he made several hand signs in a single practiced motion.

"_**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**_"

"Kuso!" Kankurō cursed again as he realized that he had no time to truly avoid the _**Katon**_ jutsu. Sasuke had maneuvered Crow and Kankurō into a single line and had waited until the last minute to launch his attack so that Kankurō wouldn't have time to avoid the attack.

BOOM!

The _**Katon**_ fireball slammed into Kankurō's puppet and consumed it in a large explosion. Sasuke grinned for a moment before vanishing in a burst of speed. Kankurō froze as he felt the cold sting of metal against his neck. Over his shoulder, he saw the blood red eyes of Sasuke's _**Sharingan**_.

"Forfeit," Sasuke ordered as he pressed his kunai against Kankurō's throat.

"I give," Kankurō grunted.

"Winner Uchiha Sasuke," Hayate announced. Sasuke nodded to the proctor before leaping up to the viewing platform next to Naruto and Kakashi.

"Nice job teme," Naruto joked. Sasuke just grunted though his lips did twitch.

"Well done Sasuke, though I believe I told you not to use any jutsus or your _**Sharingan**_," Kakashi said.

"I know sensei," Sasuke said. "But I had to win, and I wouldn't have been able to using only taijutsu. And I used a smaller amount of chakra than normally with that first _**Goukakyuu**_, I wanted to test that seal of yours. And I didn't feel a thing from it, so I figured that I could fight without restrictions."

Kakashi sighed. "Very well," he said. "Though I am still disappointed in you for disobeying me. It seems to me that we need to work on your taijutsu if you think it's not very strong." Sasuke nodded.

"Dobe, looks like you're up," Sasuke commented when the board beeped for the final time.

_Yamanaka Ino vs. Uzumaki Naruto_

"All right, I got the dobe, this will be easy," Ino cried as she raced down the stairs to the arena floor. Naruto frowned as he leapt down to the arena floor landing several feet away from Ino and Hayate.

"Let's get this over with dobe, you know you have no chance in beating me," Ino chided, crossing her arms and looking extremely smug. Naruto breathed out sharply through his nose in order to calm himself.

Memories from his mother and father's previous spars against Ino's clan members. He realized that the Yamanaka clan focused mostly on mind jutsus, the majority of the clan to have the ability to read a person's mind as well as take other their opponent's body. However, Naruto knew that Ino was more concerned with her looks and impressing Sasuke instead of training herself and in her clan's jutsus. A major weakness in the Yamanaka's jutsus was, that unless they were extremely skilled, all the jutsus had to be done in a straight line. And Naruto knew that Ino was especially skilled in anything let alone her clan jutsus.

"You should just give up Naruto, you know that you can't beat me," Ino scoffed as Hayate asked the pair if they were ready to fight.

"I would keep such comments to yourself Yamanaka-san," Naruto said evenly. "I know that you want to have a quick fight so you can go home and wash your hair, since that's all you care about apparently. Everyone here knows that you talk a big game but you can't back it up. You are a disgrace to your clan and the profession of being a kunoichi."

"What did you say?" Ino snarled.

"You heard me," Naruto said sharply. "I don't know how Shikamaru and Choji were able to put up with you in the Forest, I'm sure you were nagging and berating them the whole time while all you did was worry about your so-called precious 'Sasuke-kun', well get it through your thick head. Sasuke isn't interested in pathetic fan girls, why do you think that he never gave you the time of day when you and Sakura would throw yourselves at his feet. He wants someone who will stand up to him and tell him that he should take the massive stick out of his ass."

"Shut up dobe!" Sasuke shouted from the stands.

"I'll show you Naruto-baka!" Ino screamed. "What do you know about Sasuke-kun?!"

"Well, I'm his teammate for one," Naruto said. "And besides, when have you or Sakura actually asked Sasuke what type of girl he would go for? You never did, you both just threw yourselves at him, hoping that you would stick like bugs on a window."

Ino gaped at Naruto. He was acting smart!

"Proctor, would you mind starting the fight?" Naruto asked totally ignoring Ino's sputtering expression. "Not that it will take very long."

"Begin," Hayate announced, slashing his hand down.

"You're in for it now baka," Ino cried as she reached for her kunai pouch. "I'm going to beat you up so bad that…" Ino suddenly fell silent as Naruto appeared right in front of her and slammed his fist into her stomach. Ino bent over feeling like she was going to throw up anything that she had in her stomach, not that she did. CRACK! Several people winced when Ino's head was thrown back as Naruto pulled his knee up into her face. Blood was pouring from Ino's broken nose as Naruto appeared behind Ino, holding her up by her long hair.

"Pathetic, who would have thought that a clan heiress would be so weak?" Naruto muttered before he knocked Ino out with a swift chop to the back of her neck.

Asuma appeared next to Naruto and an unconscious Ino, with a frown marring his face. "You went to far there Naruto," Asuma growled. "There was no reason to…"

"To what Sarutobi-san," Naruto snapped. "To win the fight? We're ninja, we don't play fair. Maybe if she actually trained, Ino wouldn't be so pathetic. What exactly did you train her in? Couldn't be much but then again, the fight ended before she could try anything."

Asuma snarled down at the blonde genin, releasing a subtle amount of KI.

"Do you really think that pitiful amount of KI will cow me?" Naruto snapped, his blue eyes steeling over. "Don't think to threaten me Sarutobi-san, I've faced much worse things than an jōnin-sensei that just saw his student get absolutely manhandled."

"That's enough Naruto," Hiruzen barked out as he saw his son's hand twitch. "Asuma, take your student to the medical center."

Asuma frowned up at his father but gathered up his defeated student before vanishing in a swirl of leaves. Naruto nodded to the proctor and Hiruzen before turning toward the stairs. "Actually Naruto-kun, you should remain down here," Hiruzen said. "In fact, would all the winners of their matches come down here?"

After a moment, Naruto was standing next to Sasuke while they waited for the Hokage to continue. Hiruzen gazed down at the assembled genin.

"Congratulations to all of you who have passed the Second Exam of the Chūnin Exams," the Hokage said. "Now that the preliminaries have been completed, we can discover the match ups for the Third Exam. If you would please come forward and select a number?"

"1"

"4"

"7"

"3"

"2"

"5"

"9"

"6"

"10"

"8"

"Very well, the matchups of the Chūnin Selection Final Exams will be: Inuzaka Kiba vs. Sabaku no Temari, then it will be Nara Shikamaru vs. Akadō Yoroi, then Misumi vs. Rock Lee, then Aburame Shino vs. Uchiha Sasuke and finally Sabaku no Gaara vs. Uzumaki Naruto. The Finals will take place one month from today. Take this time to rest and train, for when you fight next month you will be expected to showcase your skills to the village, and the spectators that will be present."

**A/N: Well here's the newest chapter of '_Will of Three_', it's a bit shorter than the previous ones mainly because the preliminaries have been so much, so its tough to come up with stuff that is original. But I hope I did do somethings that are new to you all. Some of you might think I'm being hard on Ino, well I kind of am but that's because she comes from a ninja clan, Sakura doesn't. Isn't Ino a clan heiress and shouldn't she know about what being a ninja is all about, her father who was the head of the T&I department, right? I know he was part of it but not sure if he was the Head. This concludes the prewritten chapters, I've got four other chapters outlined but haven't put them to computer. Please read and review as always, any constructive criticism is always appreciated. **

**Enjoy**

**S.R.W.M.O**


	4. Arc I: Chap IV

**Disclaimer: The _Naruto_ universe doesn't belong to me, it belongs ****to Kishimoto. I'm just taking bits and pieces of it and hoping to turn it into a brilliant cake, I mean story.**

The village of Konoha was abuzz with rabid excitement. The day had finally arrived, the Finals of the Chūnin Selection Exams was about to begin. Most of the chatter was geared toward the upcoming match between the Last Uchiha, Uchiha Sasuke, and the heir to the Aburame clan, Aburame Shino. The civilians of the village were all talking about how their Uchiha would easily tear through the competition and be promoted to chūnin. While each of the matches were garnering chatter from the shinobi of the village, the match that held the most interest was the upcoming battle between Uzumaki Naruto and Sabaku no Gaara, for those in the know, the upcoming match between jinchuriki was something that all the shinobi of Konoha were taking special interest in.

"Where are Sasuke-kun and Naruto?" Sakura asked. The Rookie Nine members that hadn't reached the Finals, along with Tenten and Neji, whose arm and leg were still in casts from the injuries that he received in his match against Gaara, were seated together.

"I don't see them down there," Hinata said. "It isn't like Naruto-kun or Sasuke-kun to be late."

"Knowing Naruto, he would have been the first one here," Sakura said. "I know that Sasuke-kun was training with Kakashi-sensei, so I wouldn't be surprised if they show up late."

"If he's late, then he'll be disqualified," Neji grunted. "No matter if the Uchiha is beloved by the civilians, Hokage-sama will make sure that he is disqualified if he isn't here."

"Hey what about Kabuto's two teammates? Where are they?" Sakura asked.

"Why do you care about them? One of them was the guy who put you in a coma for two weeks!" Ino cried. Sakura shivered, she still hadn't fully recovered from the massive chakra exhaustion that followed her match against Akadō Yoroi in the preliminaries a month previous. The drain had depleted her meager chakra reserves so quickly that she fell into shock and into a coma, if Hayate hadn't called the fight… Sakura shivered once more trying to ward off the feeling of helplessness as her strength was drained away.

"Sakura-chan, are you all right?" Hinata asked. Sakura nodded. "Have you fully recovered?"

"Hai," Sakura said. "Physically I'm fine but mentally, I never want to feel that weak again. It was horrible, being held like that and feeling my chakra just being ripped from me. I was helpless." The kunoichi shivered that was the darkest fear of them, to be helpless at the hands of an enemy.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"All right you maggots, listen up," the senbon wielding Konoha jōnin Shiranui Genma barked as he walked over toward the finalists. "There have been some changes to the match-ups so take a look at this…" Genma trailed off as three chakra signatures suddenly entered the stadium, one of the signatures dwarfing the other two combined. Cocking his head, Genma, and the genin finalists saw three figures appear in a trio of leaf tornadoes. When the leaves settled, the bright blonde hair of Naruto, the spiky black hair of Sasuke and the gravity defying hair of Kakashi could be seen clearly.

The spectators seemed to be torn between cheering for Sasuke and booing the appearance of Naruto, though neither boy seemed to care as they quickly made their way to the line of fellow genin.

"We're not late are we?" Kakashi asked sheepishly.

"No," Genma grunted. "But you better get moving so we can get this show on the road."

Kakashi chuckled before nodding to Genma and vanishing in a swirl of leaves. Genma turned back to the new arrivals. "Now that all of you are here we can get started," Genma said. "Inuzaka Kiba and Sabaku no Temari if you would remain behind, the rest of you can go up to the viewing box."

"Good luck Kiba," Naruto said, slapping the feral boy's shoulder.

"Thanks man," Kiba nodded.

"The first match of the Chūnin Selection Exams between Sabaku no Temari of Sunagakure no Sato against Inuzaka Kiba of Konohagakure no Sato will now begin!" Genma shouted as he leapt backward to give the fighters space.

"_**Futon: Kazekiri no Jutsu!**_" Temari shouted, whipping her large fan in front of her and sending a massive blast of wind toward Kiba. The Inuzaka and Akamaru leapt apart to avoid the large _**Futon**_ jutsu.

"_**Jūjin Bunshin!**_" Kiba shouted after tossing a soldier pill to Akamaru, who scarfed it down making his fur turn red and look feral. The red puppy burst into smoke and when the smoke cleared, Akamaru had changed into another Kiba.

"_**Gatsūga!**_" Kiba shouted. Kiba and Akamaru turned into twin gray tornadoes and rocketed toward the Suna shinobi.

Temari leapt backward to avoid the initial attack but Kiba and Akamaru were somehow able to twist themselves at a near 90-degree angle to continue their attack.

"_**Kamaitachi no Jutsu!**_" Temari screamed, swinging her fan and sending another blast of wind toward Kiba and Akamaru. The twin tornadoes spilt apart to avoid the _**Futon**_ jutsu. Kiba and Akamaru landed several feet apart, glaring at the smug looking Suna shinobi.

"I'm going to wipe that smug grin off your face," Kiba snarled. His fingernails grew longer and curved into wicked looking claws. "Try this on for size! _**Futon: Tsume Kiritateru!**_" (Wind Release: Claw Slash) Kiba slashed his clawed-hands through the air and white distortions of air sped toward Temari.

The Suna shinobi's eyes widened before she leapt sideways to avoid the attack. However she wasn't quite fast enough as Kiba's attack seemed to lengthen and the trailing edge of it managed to leave several small cuts along her legs. Temari looked down at the small cuts leaking blood from her legs.

"You surprised me mutt," Temari growled. "But you should have made sure that that last attack finished me off."

"We'll see sand bitch," Kiba snarled.

"_**Kuchiyose: Kirikiri Mai!**_" Temari screamed, swinging her fan in front of her. A large puff of smoke exploded in front of Temari and a eye-patch wearing weasel wielding a large sickle shot out of the smoke and barreled toward Akamaru. The white puppy tried to leap aside but the summon was too quick.

"Akamaru!" Kiba shouted as the weasel summon slashed its sickle at the smaller nin-dog. Akamaru whined piteously as his body was riddled with small cuts, staining his white fur red.

"You BITCH!" Kiba roared as he rushed toward his fallen partner.

"Don't move!" Temari barked. "Or you'll be burying your little puppy." Her summon was kneeling on top of Akamaru, its sickle blade underneath the puppy's chin. Kiba skidded to a halt. "Now forfeit or watch what little blood is in your mutt's body spill onto the arena floor."

Kiba looked wretched at Akamaru before lowering his head. "I give," the Inuzaka heir grumbled. "Now let him go."

"Pathetic," Temari sneered before nodding to her summon. The weasel looked down at Akamaru once more, as if to say 'you got lucky' before dispelling into a cloud of smoke.

"Winner Sabaku no Temari," Hayate announced. There was scattered applause for the Suna shinobi.

"Interesting match," the Kazekage said silkily. "The Inuzaka heir fought well but my daughter is much better, and more ruthless."

"Indeed, she saw Kiba-kun's weakness and took advantage of it," Hiruzen answered. "It shows the forethought needed to become a chunin. Though she seems to have a limited repertoire of jutsus, so I'd like to see her next match before I give my vote."

"Agreed," the Kazekage said. "It seems that the next match is about to begin. Ah the Uchiha, now this should be interesting. I'm sure that many of the nobles here are excited to see the Last Uchiha fight, even if it against one of his own teammates, I would have greatly enjoyed to see the Uchiha face off against our Gaara."

"True but I know that Naruto-kun will surprise many of the people here," Hiruzen said.

Down in the arena, two of Konoha's clan heirs stood ten paces apart from one another. Aburame Shino and Uchiha Sasuke looked stoically at each other, neither making a move as Hayate signaled the start of the fight.

"Give up Shino, you know you can't win," Sasuke said after a moment of intense staring. "You rely to heavily on your clan's abilities, and while they work well when used in stealth or ambushes, they not work against me. Your bugs are laden with your chakra, and with my _**Sharingan**_, I can see chakra. You won't get the chance to get your bugs to drain my chakra."

Sasuke could tell that Shino had narrowed his eyes behind the boy's sunglasses judging from the tightening of his facial muscles. "That might be true but we might as well give the crowd a good show," Shino said. Sasuke arched an eyebrow at Shino's unusual exuberance at wanting to fight.

"All right then," Sasuke said. He activated his _**Sharingan**_ and settled into his family's taijutsu stance. Shino raised his arms and a flood of bugs flowed from his sleeves. Sasuke leapt away from the approaching bugs and made several hand signs in rapid succession.

"_**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**_" Sasuke shouted, blowing a massive fireball at the approaching swarm of bugs. Shino ordered his partners to dodge the fireball but with a quick burst of chakra, Sasuke caused the fireball to explode early. Shino grimaced as he felt nearly 1/3 of his bugs burnt to a crisp.

"I told you Shino," Sasuke said. "There's no way you can beat me if you only rely on your bugs. I can just burn them to a crisp with my _**Katon**_ jutsus before they even get close to me."

"We shall see," Shino commented as he sunk into the ground without nary a ripple. Sasuke instantly went on alert. This was one of Kakashi's favorite tactics, hide out of sight and then use the _**Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu**_ to sneak up on his opponent. Sasuke leapt into the air as Shino shot out of the ground, bugs spilling out of his sleeves and jacket.

"_**Katon: Fenikkusu Ba-Suto no Jutsu!**_" (Fire Release Phoenix Burst Jutsu) Sasuke shouted. Roughly a dozen small fireballs in the shape of birds spat from Sasuke's mouth and arched toward Shino. The Aburame heir was able to dodge the majority of them but had to sacrifice roughly another third of his bugs to protect himself from the others.

"Give it up Shino," Sasuke demanded. "You've lost almost all of your partners, and you couldn't hope to beat me even with them all at 100%, just admit it Shino you've lost."

Shino's shoulders slumped and he raised his arm. "Proctor, I forfeit," the Aburame said. "I can no longer fight my opponent at full strength without my full compliment of my partners and I have already lost over half of them without landing a single blow to my opponent."

"Very well," Genma said. "Winner Uchiha Sasuke!"

Cheers erupted from the stands and rained down on the two participants as they made their way back to the arena viewing boxes.

"Not bad Sasuke," Naruto commented as Sasuke and Shino returned to the viewing box. "You too Shino."

"Thank you Uzumaki-san," Shino said. "I do believe it is your turn."

Naruto nodded curtly, looking over his shoulder at his opponent, Gaara. "I know," Naruto said.

"Good luck dobe," Sasuke said. "Remember, you better not lose to that brat, I want to fight you."

"You got it teme," Naruto returned.

"Good luck Uzumaki-san," Shino said.

"Thank you Shino," Naruto said. "After you," the blonde boy gestured to Gaara, who only gave him a bloodthirsty grin before vanishing in a swirl of sand.

"Uzumaki Naruto, will you get down here?" Genma called out. Naruto took a deep breath before vanishing in a slight crackle that left a charge in the air.

"Too bad that our Gaara has to fight such a unknown and weak looking opponent," the Kazekage said. "I hope that this Uzumaki puts up some of a fight."

"Don't be so quick to judge Kazekage-dono," Hiruzen said. "Naruto-kun is wildly considered Konoha's most unpredictable ninja and he has never failed to put on a good show."

"We shall see," the Kazekage said.

"The third match between Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure and Sabaku no Gaara of Sunagakure will now begin!" Genma shouted before slashing his hand down and leaping back out of the way. An arm of sand shot out of Gaara's gourd and sped toward Naruto. Naruto leapt backward several paces to avoid the sand appendage. With nary a twitch, Gaara created a second and third arm of sand and sent them screaming toward Naruto.

Naruto ducked under one of the sand arms before leaping high into the air to avoid the other two sand arms. Gaara looked up with murderous intent at Naruto who was standing on the wall looking down at the Suna shinobi.

"All right then Gaara, I guess I'm going to have to take it up a notch," Naruto sighed. He made a ram hand sign and channeled his chakra. The crowd was stunned to feel Naruto's chakra wash over them. "_Kai!_" Naruto said clearly and calmly. He looked down at Gaara with steely eyes.

Gaara's stoic face cracked as he took in Naruto's expression. "Don't look down upon me!" Gaara screamed. "You will prove my existence and mother shall feast on your blood!" An enormous wave of sand exploded from Gaara's gourd and slammed into the stadium wall.

"NARUTO!" Sakura and Hinata cried out as dust obscured their view of the match.

"Sorry Gaara but you're going to have to do better than that," Naruto commented. Gaara whirled around to see Naruto standing about ten feet behind him. "Let's see if you can keep up," Naruto said before blurring out of sight. Gaara's eyes widened briefly before the sand came to his rescue in time to block a punch that flashed in front of his eyes. A blue-sandaled foot shot toward Gaara's head before a wall of sand intercepted it.

"Good try but not good enough," a calm voice said from behind Gaara once more. Naruto appeared behind the Suna shinobi, two trench knives in his hands. "Let's see how you handle this!" A crackling sound echoed around the arena as Naruto's knives were coated with _**Raiton**_ chakra. Naruto slashed quickly at Gaara's head, a wall of sand shot up to defend but the _**Raiton**_ encased knife sliced right through the sand. Gaara staggered backward to avoid the knife, only to be struck in the face by Naruto's fist, sending the Suna shinobi careening several feet away. There came a popping sound signaling to Gaara that a _**Kage Bunshin**_ had struck him.

"_**Kage Bunshin**_," Gaara snarled as he got to his feet, the sand swirling like a maelstrom around him.

Suddenly an explosion rocked the stadium. Naruto looked up and saw the Kage's box engulfed in smoke. That cost Naruto, as Gaara sent a fist made of sand careening toward him. The massive sand fist slammed Naruto into arena wall. Coughing, Naruto slid to the ground before falling to his butt. Grimacing, he looked up to see another wave of sand surging toward him. Quickly channeling chakra into his legs, Naruto leapt over the wave of sand and stuck to wall. He chanced a glance over the stands and saw that the majority of the spectators were slumped over in their seats while all around them ninja from Konoha, Suna and Oto were viscously fighting one another. Naruto's nose twitched as the scent of freshly spilt blood filled his nostrils.

"**Uzumaki Naruto! Yes, you will prove my existence**," Gaara roared as sand consumed the red-haired genin hiding him from sight. Naruto saw two figures detach themselves from the crowd and land in the arena in front of Gaara. They were Gaara's teammates and siblings.

"Gaara, you know what you have to do," Temari said. "You are supposed to be our secret weapon, the sword that slashes its way through the heart of Konoha."

"**Enough Temari, I know my role, but first I must kill Uzumaki Naruto!**" Gaara roared as much of the sand surrounding him fell off him leaving Gaara looking like tan raccoon with blue tattoo like markings all over his body. A thick tail swung menacingly behind the half-transformed Gaara.

"Fine Gaara, if you want me you're going to have to come get me!" Naruto shouted as he leapt off the wall, blurred past the Suna trio and up the opposite wall. "Going to have to do better than that to keep up with me," Naruto scoffed.

"**Uzumaki Naruto!**" Gaara roared as he tore after Naruto. The remaining two Suna siblings made to follow but a curt voice held them up.

"Where do you think you two are going?"

Turning around, Kankurō and Temari saw that Sasuke, Shikamaru and Shino had leapt down from the spectators box and were standing in their path to follow Gaara and Naruto.

"**Uzumaki Naruto!**" the possessed Gaara roared as he chased after the blonde jinchuriki as they raced through the village. Naruto glanced over his shoulder to see the crazed-jinchuriki slowly gaining on him. As the blonde turned back to his route, his mind went back to the fourth day of the Second Exam when Sasuke and Sakura had cornered him in the Tower.

_Flashback_

_"Naruto!" Sakura called out as Naruto entered the medical wing of the Tower. The blonde made his way over to his two teammates. Sasuke was sitting in a medical bed, half-dressed. Naruto spotted several black marks peaking out over Sasuke's left shoulder._

_ "How are you feeling Sasuke?" Naruto asked._

_ "As well as I can be dobe," Sasuke answered, covering his mark with a hand. "Naruto, what did that woman say when she called you a jinchuriki?"_

_ Naruto froze as he looked away from his teammates._

_ "Naruto?" Sakura asked quietly._

_ "Look, Sakura, Sasuke," Naruto said. Both other members of Team 7 noticed that Naruto called them by their names; they knew that something was bothering him. "You have to understand that what I'm about to tell you is an S-class secret punishable by death. Now I'm exempt from this law only because I am the subject of that law."_

_ "What are you talking about Naruto?" Sasuke asked._

_ "Before I tell you this, I have an example make," Naruto said. "Say you have a kunai and a scroll. Now what happens if you were to seal the kunai into the scroll, does the scroll become the kunai?"_

_ "No of course not," Sakura said. "It's just a kunai and scroll, what are you getting at?"_

_ "You know about the Kyubi attack 13 years ago, how the Yondaime Hokage defeated the demon at the cost of his own life?"_

_ "Yes we know the story Naruto, now what is this all about?" Sakura snapped._

_ "Wait, you said that the Yondaime _defeated_ the demon, not killed," Sasuke said sharply. Naruto gave the Uchiha heir a wan smile._

_ "That is correct," Naruto said. "The Yondaime couldn't kill the Kyubi, I mean, how do you defeat that which is immortal and just a giant mass of chakra. The Yondaime didn't kill the Kyubi, he sealed it."_

_ "Into what?" Sakura asked. Sasuke went suddenly very still before turning to face Naruto. _

_ "Not what, who?" Sasuke said. "He sealed the fox into you, didn't he?"_

_ Naruto nodded. "Yes, the Kyubi is sealed within me," the blonde said, clutching his stomach. "Before you ask, I don't know why the Yondaime chose me other than the fact that I was the only baby born that day and the ritual works best with a newborn as their chakra network hasn't developed yet and is able to adjust to the demon chakra as they grow."_

_ "So you wield the Kyubi?" Sasuke asked, his eyes glinting._

_ "No," Naruto answered sharply. "The seal allows me to access its chakra but I don't like to use it. Sakura, remember during the Wave mission, that horrible feeling of dread, death and despair." Sakura nodded numbly. "That was me using only a fraction of the Kyubi's power, and I was barely in control. Using its chakra feels dirty and I'm not in control, I'm just as likely as to attack a friend as I would a foe. Also it is borrowed strength, it is not my own. I want to rely on my own strength. Much like that seal that Orochimaru gave you Sasuke."_

_ "What do you mean?" Sasuke asked._

_ "Sasuke, that seal might grant you power but it also will eat away at your will until you become as much a monster as Orochimaru himself," Naruto said. "Borrowed strength is not strength anyway. Did Itachi rely on something else to gain power or did he do it all himself? Look at all the other immensely powerful ninja in history, they worked for their strength not relying on borrowed strength."_

_ "How do you know about Itachi? What makes you think…" Sasuke began but was interrupted by Naruto._

_ "It wasn't that difficult to figure out," the blonde said. "There are no shortcuts to true strength, if you go down that path only misery and sorrow will follow and you will never be able to look Itachi in the eye when you fight him. If you truly want to avenge your family, don't follow Itachi's path, forge your own path and make everyone forget about Itachi by outshining him."_

_ Sasuke looked down at his hands while Sakura gaped at the mature-sounding Naruto. _

_Flashback End_

Naruto shook his head to shake the memory from his head as he reached the outskirts of the village. Reaching the forest, Naruto landed on a branch and turned to wait for Gaara. The blonde didn't have to wait long as just seconds after Naruto stopped, the crazed jinchuriki came crashing through the trees.

"**Uzumaki Naruto, so you've decided to stop running and face me like a man,**" Gaara snarled.

"Gaara, stand down," Naruto said calmly. "I won't let you attack the village but I don't want to have to fight."

"**Why do you hesitate? I know what you hold; these weaklings do not deserve your compassion. It has made you weak and soft,**" Gaara roared. "**Only by fighting for yourself, fighting to prove your existence makes you strong.**"

"I don't believe that Gaara," Naruto said. "Only when you fight to protect something precious to you do you gain strength. Even though this village has treated me like crap for much of my life I will still defend it with my life because that is what my father wanted me to do. And if I were to turn on them, I would just be proving them right in the way they treated me. I might not truly understand their pain but I do realize that I am the reminder of that pain, the pain of losing their loved ones. Would I like to get revenge on those who harmed me, yes, but I will prove them wrong by not stooping to their level."

"**I will prove my existence Uzumaki Naruto!**" Gaara shouted. "**I will kill you, I will not cease to existence!**"

"So be it," Naruto said heavily as he readied himself.

"**Die Uzumaki Naruto!**" Gaara roared as he leapt off the branch toward Naruto. The blonde Konoha shinobi leapt over Gaara. Spinning in midair, Naruto flung several shuriken at Gaara.

"_**Kage Shuriken Bunshin!**_" Naruto shouted out. The three shuriken multiplied into thirty.

"_**Suna Kaiten!**_" Gaara roared. Spinning around, Gaara created a dome of sand that shielded him from the shuriken attack. As Gaara came to a stop, he looked around for Naruto.

"Behind you," Naruto whispered as he landed a spinning kick to Gaara's neck sending the Suna shinobi flying into the trees.

"_**Suna Shuriken!**_" Gaara shouted. Dozens of sand projectiles shot out of the trees toward Naruto. Naruto dropped to the forest floor to avoid the attack before leaping sideways just in time to avoid a claw slash from Gaara.

"_**Futon: Daitoppa!**_" Naruto cried. Several wind bullets spat from Naruto's mouth and slammed into Gaara. Gaara cried out as he was propelled forcibly into the ground. Naruto threw several-tagged kunai around Gaara before flying through several other hand signs. "_**Raiton: Hiraishin!**_" the blonde shouted. Lightning arched around the kunai before shooting into the air and then slamming down into Gaara's arms and legs.

Naruto winced at the sound of Gaara's pain filled screams but steeled himself; he knew that that attack wasn't enough to fully stop Gaara. And sure enough, Gaara's chakra suddenly exploded outward.

"**I'm free!**" a crazed voice roared out over the trees.

"So that attack was enough to knock Gaara out but in turn caused Shukaku to take fully possession of Gaara," Naruto mused. "I'm going to need some help with this. _**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**_" Naruto roared out, slamming his hand on the ground. A massive explosion of smoke covered much of the forest before finally clearing and reveling a massive dark red spotted toad wearing a blue coat, with a pipe in its mouth and 'short' sword tucked in its belt.

"**Gaki! What are you doing summoning me to this place?**" Gamabunta roared.

"Sorry boss but I'm going to need your assistance against my opponent," Naruto said. "I just need you to hold him down while I wake Gaara up."

"**Gaki, that's Shukaku the sand spirit**," the Toad Boss growled. The massive toad sighed, breathing out a large out of smoke. "**Very well then but you are going to owe me a whole mess of sake after this.**"

"I'll make good on that boss," Naruto said. "So are you ready Bunta?"

"**Of course,**" Gamabunta snapped.

"Right then, Bunta give me some oil," Naruto barked. Gamabunta's cheeks swelled before he spat a stream of oil toward the massive sand demon. "_**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!**_" A fireball shot from Naruto's mouth and struck the oil stream just off Gamabunta's nose. The oil ignited and a massive stream of fire was sent speeding toward Shukaku. The sand demon raised a paw and slashed downward, creating a wind slash that spilt the fire attack. Gamabunta leapt over the attack.

"_**Suiton: Teppoudama!**_" the toad shouted before spitting out three large water bullets. Shukaku leapt backward to avoid the water attack. Gamabunta crashed to the ground in front of Shukaku and reached for the sand demon. The sand demon knocked the webbed hand aside and reached to slash at Gamabunta's face. The toad boss ducked under the claw slash and quickly drew his sword sending a quick slash at Shukaku. The sword bit deeply into the sand demon's arm but Gamabunta couldn't pull the sword free and had to abandon it to avoid a claw swipe.

"**Gaki, you better do something quick or we won't be able to stop this guy**," Bunta roared after sending another volley of _**Teppoudama**_ at Shukaku, who responded with a volley of _**Futon: Daitoppa**_.

"I need to get closer to Gaara in order to wake him up," Naruto said. "Any way you can think of to get me close enough would be greatly appreciated."

"**Hold on gaki!**" Bunta growled. The massive toad leaned back on his legs before surging forward toward Shukaku. Gamabunta grabbed his discarded sword, that Shukaku and tossed aside, and readied himself for a slash. The sand demon gave ground to avoid the slash but Gamabunta quickly switched his grip and stabbed the demon in the shoulder. Shukaku roared in pain as Gamabunta's sword dug deeper and deeper into its sand 'flesh'.

"**Now gaki!**" Gamabunta roared.

"Right, thanks boss," Naruto shouted. Naruto leapt off Bunta's head and landed on the tip of Shukaku's snout. Almost immediately Naruto felt his feet beginning to sink into the sand. Channeling a massive amount of chakra into his legs, Naruto sprinted faster than most eyes could see toward Gaara, who was hunched over sticking out of the sand between Shukaku's eyes.

"Wake up!" Naruto roared, slamming his fist into the redhead's cheek. Naruto heard Gaara grunt in pain as the blonde's fist twisted in his cheek. Shukaku gave an ear-splitting screech as the demon's consciousness was pulled back inside Gaara's seal.

"**Nice job gaki**," Gamabunta grunted. "**Well, it's time for me to go. 'Til next time.**" The toad boss dispersed in a massive cloud of smoke sending the two genin flying into the forest.

With a loud crash, Gaara slammed into the forest floor. Naruto landed on his feet but winced as he landed awkwardly twisting his ankle. Gritting his teeth, Naruto turned toward his downed opponent. Gaara was lying on his back, head turned toward the blonde. Gaara's sea-green eyes were wide with fear as Naruto approached.

"No, don't come any closer!" Gaara cried out.

"Relax Gaara, I'm not going to hurt you anymore," Naruto said, holding his arms out away from his body to show that he wasn't armed. "It hurts doesn't it, to be all alone, to feel as if your life has no meaning. But that doesn't have to be the case, I know that you are afraid Gaara but you don't have to be anymore. Stop trying to push everyone away, let them help you. You have people who care for you."

"Who! Everyone fears me, they call me a monster," Gaara cried.

"Your teammates and siblings care for you," Naruto said. "I know that you think that they fear you, and perhaps they do. But you must be the one to make the first move. Show them that you are not the thing that they fear. If you continue down this path, then you will become the monster that they all fear you are. Show them that they are wrong, show them that you can become Suna's greatest protector."

Gaara turned to face the sky and closed his eyes. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief before he sensed several chakra signatures approaching their position. Turning around, Naruto saw several Konoha ANBU members dropping down from the trees.

"Genin Uzumaki, were you the one who defeated the Suna jinchuriki?" the tallest ANBU member asked.

"His name is Gaara, and yes I beat him," Naruto said sharply. "What happened during the invasion?"

Several of the ANBU exchanged a look before the purple haired ANBU stepped forward. "Perhaps it would be best if we restrained Gaara-san and made our way back to the village."

Naruto knew instantly that something bad had happened. "Fine," the blonde said. "Maybe we can get Ero-sennin to look at Gaara's seal as well, Suna doesn't have very good fuinjutsu users, don't they?"

"Perhaps, now come along Uzumaki," the female ANBU ordered. Naruto nodded and made his way over to where Gaara was lying. Creating two clones, Naruto ordered the clones to carry Gaara back to the village.

As the group approached the village, Naruto spotted several other ninja teams rushing around the village. Some of the ninja that saw the mismatched group starred at Naruto as if seeing him for the first time. The blonde could hear whispers coming from the various ninja, about how someone summoned a massive toad and how the last person to do so was the Yondaime Hokage. Naruto instantly realized that his and Gaara's fight must have been seen by some of the village. In the back of his mind, Naruto wondered what his reception would be like when it was revealed that it was Uzumaki Naruto who summoned the Toad Boss, Gamabunta, and defeated the Ichibi Jinchuriki in defense of the village.

**A/N: Well there you have the newest installment of '_The Will of Three_', I'll admit it's not my best work but I don't know if I'll be able to make it any better. The invasion of Konoha has been done quite a bit, so it was difficult coming up with something new. It's also shorter than previous chapters, once again because this arc has been done quite a bit and also, to be honest I was getting tired of the chapter just sitting on my computer. Hope you do like this chapter though, summer school is winding down so I should have some more time to write now. Til next time**

**S.R.W.M.O**


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